Winged Kids go to Heaven, Right?
by Chenoa6
Summary: My version of MR6. Fang goes missing and everyone fears the worst. Max is the only one who's sure he's alive, but what happens when she starts seeing him when he's not there? Max is losing it and she doesn't care...but then, why can Angel see him too?
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything!**

**Winged Kids Go to Heaven...Right?**

**Chapter One**

Here's a little information you might not know. Africa is not a country. It's actually a continent made up of a bunch of different countries.

Me being the unschooled mutant bird-kid I am, was slightly surprised to find this out.

And while we're talking about fats here, I'd like to point out that Africa is really, really hot! Even at 2,000 feet in the air.

This was where the flock and I currently were. We were over Chad, headed to the refuge camp where the Coalition to Stop the Madness, or the CSM, were going to meet us.

"Hey look, Elephants!" Gazzy shouted excitedly, pointing to the ground where we could make out a herd of elephants making it's way through the desert.

How could we see them, you ask? Well, with our handy-dandy raptor vision that's how. Being a mutant bird-kid had it's perks.

"They look really cool." Iggy said.

I rolled my eyes , then remembered he couldn't see it. "I'm rolling my eyes Ig."

Nudge glided closer to me. "Max, I'm tired. Will we be there soon?" she asked.

I wasn't really sure, but I doubted that would be a good answer from a leader. We had been flying for a long time so I guessed it would be pretty soon.

"Probably in around twenty minutes." I said confidently.

"Sooner." Fang said from my other side, looking straight ahead.

I looked too and, sure enough, there was the refuge camp below us maybe a fifteen minute flight away.

I was close.

From here I could see the CSM planes and what looked like little huts.

I became tense and more alert. We would be going onto a new environment with lots of people around us. And call me paranoid but, I felt like something bad was going to happen.

And knowing our insane life, something probably would.

"Everything will be fine, Max." Angel assured, hearing my thoughts. Yep that's right. Angel can read minds. Along with a bunch of other weird things.

I smiled back at her, not really comforted.

"Okay guys" I said "Lets head down."

After landing near of the planes, Dr. John Abate, one of my mum's co-workers, came up to meet us.

"Hey guys, how was the flight?" he asked, offering us all bottles of water he had brought over. We gratefully took them.

Before I could answer I was interrupted.

"Hi guys!" Dr. Brigid Dwyer came up from behind John.

"Hey." Everyone answered with different levels of enthusiasm.

I remembered her little "confrontation" with Mr. Chu I had seen and stayed silent. My day was quickly going down hill.

"Your mum is in there." John motioned to one of the huts and started leading the way while everyone followed.

And that, along with Fang's hand in mine and the killer half-smile he sent me, my day seemed a lot better.

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	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything**

**Chapter Two**

"Max!" my mum said. She was standing around a table with a bunch of other CSM people, who were all looking at papers scattered on the table.

None of them looked like or mad scientists so I relaxed a little.

My mum came around the table and hugged all of us. She looked pretty good for someone who had been kidnapped and half-starved a couple weeks ago. But she had recovered pretty quickly and refused to take time out of the CSM so, here she was in Africa.

"How was the flight?" John asked again.

"Oh my gosh! We saw so many cool things! Like, there was a herd of elephants and a giraffe! Those things are really tall. And we saw some deer-"

"Antelopes." Angel interrupted Nudge to correct her.

"Yeah, antelopes. And we saw a cheetah, but it was really hard to see because it blended in with the grass so well-" Nudge was interrupted again by Iggy's landing over her mouth perfectly. It was creepy how he did that.

"Nudge, my ears are bleeding!" he complained.

While Nudge had been giving her speech of The Wonders of The African Desert, my mum had led us into another room with another bid table in it.

Only this one had food on it.

The huts only looked like huts from the outside. They were actually more like mini-houses, and they were bigger than they looked.

"Here, eat up. You must be starving after flying for so long." My mum said, smiling at us.

"Oh man, I'm so hungry I could eat one of the hippo's we saw." Gazzy said, taking some food.

"Oh, yeah!" Nudge exclaimed, turning to my mum. "We also saw hippo's!"

_Here we go._ I thought to myself as Nudge started explaining how many hippo's we saw, where we saw them, how fat they were and how hard she thought it would be to consume one of them.

"Nudge." I said exasperatedly, in between bites of food.

"Sorry." She said with and apologetic smile.

I met Fang's eyes across the table and he raised his eyebrows a bit, with the slightest of smiles on his face.

He found my exasperation amusing.

I stuck my tongue out at him childishly while Angel asked "What's this?" pointing at a food I had never seen before.

"It's an African food. It's very good, you should try it." Brigid said "Would you like some, Fang?" she asked, offering him some of the weird food.

"No thanks," he replied, while acid churned in my stomach.

"So, what's the plan here?" Iggy asked, eating an apple.

I turned to my mum.

"There's a safe house close to here you'll be staying at." She told us.

"Where is it?" I asked.

"We're keeping it's location as secret as possible for as long as possible." John said.

"So basically, we won't know where it is until we get there." Gazzy summed up.

"Yes, basically." My mum said with a small smile.

I felt a twinge of unease, but dismissed it as being paranoid. I trusted my mum.

But I still had that feeling that something bad was going to happen.

"When are we going there?" I asked.

"Right now. Your mum will explain the work you'll be doing, once you arrive there. John explained. "Brigid and I will be staying at the camp". _Thank God._

"Okay, lets go." I said, getting up. At least Brigid wouldn't be with us.

But on my way out the door after my flock, John called after me "Jeb will meet you there."

I stifled my groan by clenching my jaw.

_Out of the frying pan and into the fire._

Oh, great.

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	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything**

**Chapter Three**

The safe house turned out to be only about a mile or so away from the camp.

"It's a fast enough flight to and from the camp in case anything happens." my mum explained. "There's a room for each of you and plenty of food in the cupboards."

Iggy immediately started to walk around, gliding his fingers over surfaces, to get the feel of the place. Gazzy, Angel and Nudge ran down the hall and you could clearly hear their shouts of "This one's my room!" "The next one's mine!" "No! I wanted that one!".

"This is great, mum. Thanks." I said

My mum smiled at me. "Jeb is the one that organized the safe house."

"Oh." I said.

"Jeb will be staying here with you." She said.

Fang was looking out the window, scanning the surroundings, but when he heard my mum his head whipped around to stare at her. He trusted Jeb as much as I did. Which was none.

"What?" I said, more than a little outraged, at exactly the same time Iggy asked "Why?"

"It's for protection. He'll be able to contact the camp right away if something happens."

I was about to argue when Nudge came back down the hall. "Hey everyone. Why is there an extra room?" she asked my mum.

"Jeb is going to stay with us." I said sourly. I was _not_ happy about this.

"Why?" she asked, puzzled.

Just then I heard one of those safari jeep things pull up outside.

"He's here." Fang said, still by the window.

Three guesses on who he was talking about.

I took a deep breathe and sent my mum a strained expression before Jeb came in. I wanted to make sure she knew how much I was _not_ liking this.

"Hello, everyone." Jeb said, coming in the door. "What do you think of the house?"

"It's awesome!" Gazzy announced, coming back down the hall with Angel.

Completely ignoring Jeb, I asked my mum "Where will you be staying?"

"I'll be staying back at the refuge camp." She said.

"Why not stay here?" I offered.

"Well…" she said, thinking it over.

"I could share a room another flock member. Then there would be an extra room." I said.

"You can share with me, Max." Angel said, smiling sweetly at me.

"See! Now you can stay." I said

"Alright then." My mum agreed.

"This is going to be so cool!" Nudge said excitedly. "We're going to be like explorers or-"

"Not exactly." Jeb cut her off before she could get going. "This won't be like Antarctica or even when you were working with he navy. This time you'll be actually working ith the people you're helping." He explained.

"You'll start tomorrow bright and early." My mum said.

"There's also…" Jeb hesitated.

"What?" I asked, using my no-nonsense tone. Actually, it was more like my tell-me-or-I'll-kill-you tone. Yeah, more like that.

"There's a very rich man who has donated a lot of money towards the work done by the CSM. He would like to meet all of you." Jeb said.

My alarm bells started ringing before he finished talking. I knew he was lying to me. Or he wasn't telling me everything. Or he was editing something.

Most likely all three.

But frankly, after the long flight across Africa, I was too tired to care. I could beat whatever he was hiding out of him tomorrow. Right now I just wanted to sleep.

"Alright. Come on guys. Let's go to bed." I said, taking Angel's hand and leading my flock down the hall to our rooms. They all murmured goodnights to my mum and Jeb.

After we stacked fists and the flock had all gone to bed, Fang and I were standing outside my and Angel's room.

"You have a bad feeling about this rich guy." Fang said. It was a statement, not a question. Just another show of how well he knew me.

"Yeah," I whispered back. "I can't really explain it, I just feel like something bad is going to happen, you know?"

"Yeah." He paused. "But whatever it is we can handle it." He said, pushing a piece of my hair out of my eyes.

And he was right. There was more than enough proof that we could handle anything that was thrown at us.

"Yeah, we can." I agreed, smiling.

"Now get some sleep," he ordered. "You look dead on your feet."

"Gee, thanks." I said sarcastically.

"Okay, good night" he said.

"Night." I replied.

He kissed me quickly and sweetly before heading down the hall to his room.

Man, what would I do without him?

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	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything.**

**Chapter Four**

It was around midday and scorching hot! I was wearing shorts and the lightest top I owned and I was still over heating.

The flock and I had gotten up at six in the morning, much to everyone's complaint, eaten a marvellous breakfast, courtesy of Iggy, witnessed an amazing sunrise and headed off to work at the refuge camp.

"Max, can you take this box of medicine supplies?" John asked me. All morning the flock and I had been carrying boxes of food, water and other supplies around the refuge to different houses, distributing them where they were needed most.

Now, don't get me wrong. This was great. We were actually working with the people we were helping now.

But the refuge camp was bigger than it had looked from above the day before, with lots of houses and lots of little paths leading you in circles. I had already gotten lost twice and had to fly up into the sky to find out where I was. Which was why I was hesitant to take the box.

"Uh…" I replied uncertainly, staring at the box.

John struggled to hide a small, amused smile. "I could get someone else to take this one."

"Um, no I can take it. Where is it going?" I asked.

Brigid, who was a few feet away from us, was in charge of keeping track of all the boxes and where they were going. She looked at her clip board. "That one goes to the _Sangoma_." She said.

"The what?" I asked, completely lost.

"A _Sangoma_ is like a South African Shaman." She explained. "Also known as a Medicine Woman or a Spirit Contact. She's highly respected among the people here. She lives in a house at the outskirts of the refuge."

"Perfect." I muttered, heading out the door with the box. I was most likely going to get lost again.

I followed the directions John had given me and after a bit of confusion and a lot of backtracking, I found my way to the _Sangoma's_ house in only ten minutes.

Walking up to the door, I faced my next dilemma. How do you greet a _Sangoma_? She was respected, right? I figured she must have a lot of wisdom to have earned respect.

When I was close to the door, contemplating whether I should knock or just leave the box for her to find, the door opened.

There stood a very old woman, about a foot shorter than me, and very wrinkly. She didn't say anything. Just stood in the doorway, frowning at me.

"Um, hi," I said lamely. "Are you the _Sangoma_? This box is full of medicine supplies that I was told to bring-"

"In." she said in a stern, strong voice. With that she turned and walked back into the house, leaving the door open.

I followed her cautiously, and put the box onto the table.

"Well, I have to get back, so…" I said, backing away towards the door.

"You are the _aangeskote_." She said, turning to look at me with narrowed eyes.

"Sorry?" I asked. She had a heavy accent, but her English seemed perfect. Too bad I didn't have a clue what she was talking about.

"You are the _aangeskote_." She repeated. "The winged one."

It wasn't a question but I felt like I should answer.

"Uh, yeah." I said, backing more towards the door.

I wasn't surprised she knew about the wings. A lot of the people here knew. We even had some people stare at us when we walked past.

"You are strong. But not strong enough." She said, sitting down at the table, but still staring at me.

"Excuse me?" I said, standing up straighter. I didn't care what she was or how many people respected her. Nobody tells me that I'm not strong!

"Not for this. You must brace your soul." She ordered.

Now, you may have thought that I, being the quick thinking, fast talking person I am, would've been able to come up with some idea of what the heck she was talking about.

But then you'd be wrong. I just stared at her blankly.

"Everything is connected." She told me. "Remember that."

And with that she stood up and walked into the next room, leaving me alone and more confused by her cryptic messages than I've been in a long time.

Looks like the Voice has competition.

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	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything!**

**Chapter Five**

On the walk back from the _Sangoma's_ house, I kept thinking about what she had said. Brace my soul? How the heck was I supposed to do that? It didn't make any sense, but I couldn't get it out of my head.

"Ah, there you are Max." Jeb said, as I walked in the door of the main building.

I saw the flock standing around Jeb and instantly snapped out of my daze. What had I missed? I hadn't been gone that long, had I?

"What happened?" I asked, ignoring Jeb and looking around at the flock instead. None of them looked like they had been in a fight for their lives so I relaxed a little.

"Nothing's wrong." Jeb assured me. "Dr. Hans, the scientist I told you about, has arrived and he would like to meet with you now."

The flock stiffened and Jeb realised his mistake.

"You didn't tell us anything about a scientist." I said, my voice like steel.

Fang stepped up to stand next to me. "You just said a rich guy wanted to meet us." his tone as dangerous as mine.

"Oh, well…" Jeb said. There was no way that he could backtrack out of this.

It wasn't the fact that this dude was a scientist. It was the fact that Jeb had intentionally not mentioned it.

Which meant that this guy was probably associated with the school or Itex and this was all some kind of plan to capture us, stuff us in cages, and perform horrific experiments on us.

But hey, that's just my theory.

"What kind of scientist?" Gazzy asked, glaring at Jeb.

"He's donated a large sum of money towards the work done by the CSM." Jeb said, completely ignoring the million dollar question. "I'd like for you guys to go into this meeting with an open mind and try to use manners."

Iggy snorted.

"He's a very important man." Jeb continued, ignoring Iggy as well.

"What kind of scientist?" Nudge repeated the question.

Jeb was starting to look the tiniest bit nervous but he hid it well. "He's in the house on the left of this one. I'll go tell him you're on your way and you can come over in a few minutes." He said, and turned to walk out the door.

"What kind of scientist?" I spat the question that we all already knew the answer to.

Jeb slammed the door and we could hear his footsteps hurrying down the hall.

"Are we going to the meeting?" Angel asked, looking up at me with round, trusting eyes.

I met Fang's eyes and he shrugged at me. _Your call._

So, I made one of my famous snap decisions.

"Yes, we are." I said. "We'll go meet this guy, find out what he wants from us, tell him no, make him look like an idiot and if thing's get really interesting we might even break a few thing's. We'll probably be home by dinner time."

The flock looked a little more enthusiastic about the meeting at the mention of breaking things. I saw Iggy and Gazzy grin at each other and I vaguely thought that I should mention the whole "_no explosives unless it's absolutely necessary"_ rule. Oh well.

"Okay guys, let's get this over with. I'm starting to get hungry." I said, leading us out the door.

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	6. Chapter 6

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**Chapter Six**

The room had been cleaned and cleared of all clutter. There was a big, cushy couch and three big cushy chairs set around a cute, small coffee table.

In the biggest, cushiest chair sat a middle aged man, with sandy colored hair peppered with grey and sharp, blue eyes. Sky blue.

Jeb was standing off to the side and a pretty, secretary looking woman stood next to the guy in the chair.

"Ah yes, the flock, I presume." Said the man in the chair. "I've heard a lot about you. I'm Dr. Hans Gunther-Hagen, but I'm sure you already know that." He chuckled.

I disliked him already.

"Come in and sit down." he said.

We walked as far as the seats. No one sat down.

"Miss Cole," he said, gesturing to the woman, who immediately snapped to attention. "Fetch some food for these lovely children!" He told her, and she hurried out of the room.

"Sit, sit!" He told us, and I slowly sat down on the edge of the couch. It was warm and comfy, the kind that you could just melt into.

I sat rigid in my seat.

Fang sat next to me and scooted closer to make room for Angel and Iggy. Gazzy and Nudge took the other two chairs.

Just then Miss Cole came back with a huge tray of food and set it down on the coffee table.

"Wonderful!" Dr. Hans exclaimed while Miss Cole returned to her position next to his chair. "That should be enough for your appetites, eh?" he joked.

_How had he known about our appetites?_ I wondered, narrowing my eyes slightly. Had someone told him? Had Jeb? Or did he know more about us then he was letting on?

I glanced at Jeb. He seemed calm but his posture was tense.

"Well, eat up!" Dr. Hans said. "I'm sure you're hungry!"

I had that bad feeling again, so when Gazzy started extended his arm to take a muffin, I shook my head at him ever so slightly and he withdrew his hand.

"What do you want?" I asked Dr. Hans, meeting his gaze with my own.

If he was surprised by the question he didn't show it.

"Why, I want to help you of course!" He chuckled, like this was a stupid question. "As you know, I happen to be very wealthy. I can get you anything you need, or want!" He paused. "And, of course, I do wish to introduce you to someone." He beamed at us, like he was expecting us to jump up and down with excitement.

That wasn't going to happen. Quite the opposite, really. The bad feeling intensified to the point where I actually felt like getting sick.

Fang noticed my discomfort and managed to put his arm around my waist, despite the fact that we were squished together on the couch. He turned me slightly towards him and pressed his lips against my hair.

But I could tell by the stiff set if his shoulders that he was as uncomfortable as I was.

"You see…" Dr. Hans paused, glancing at me and Fang, then at Fang's arm around me and seemed to lose his trail of thought.

His brows furrowed and he tilted his head slightly, like he was confused.

Fang and I tensed even more. People didn't usually react when they saw me and Fang together.

After the initial surprise the flock was fine with it. Iggy teased and Nudge said it was "cute". Gazzy was indifferent as long as we didn't kiss in front of him. My mum was happy for us and Ella had shouted "I knew it!". No one else really cared.

But this reaction was a new one.

"You see…" Dr. Hans tried again, but seemed to have lost his place, and still looked a bit confused.

"Dr. Hans." Jeb spoke for the first time.

Dr. Hans looked over at him. Some message passed between them but I couldn't tell what it was.

Jeb stepped forward and Dr. Hans said "I think we'll take a short break. I'll go make a cup of coffee for myself. Come along, Miss Cole."

"Jeb." I said, once the door was closed. We all turned towards him for an explanation.

Jeb took a deep breathe and took another step towards us.

"You all know that you weren't the only hybrids the school created. But what you should also know is that you weren't the only _human/avian_ hybrids the school ever created."

"But we already know that." Iggy said, frowning. And he was right. We had seen a couple winged kids at the Institute that we had rescued.

And there had been the whole cloning incident. But I'm not sure if that counts.

"Yes, but what I'm trying to tell you is that one of them is right here, in the camp. That's who Dr. Hans wants to introduce you to."

"Really? There's another winged kid? Here?" Gazzy asked, in a mix between surprise and excitement.

"When do we get to meet him?" Angel asked. She had probably known about this the minute Dr. Hans had introduced himself.

"Oh my gosh! This is so cool!" Nudge exclaimed. She had managed to stay silent throughout the meeting and now it appeared she was ready to explode. I braced myself.

"Are they a boy or a girl? How old are they? Oh, I hope it's a girl. Then we could do makeovers on each other! I guess it wouldn't be too bad if it was a boy, either. As long as he's not another Gazzy. I personally think one is enough. Ooh! Remember that time we were in the sub and-"

"Nudge." Fang said quietly. For some odd reason, he was the only one that could get her to shut up without raising his voice.

"Sorry." She said with a small smile.

"Another one of me would be cool!" Gazzy said, staring off onto space, probably imagining the pranks he could pull off if he were doubled.

"Let me remind you that we're trying to save the world, not destroy it." Iggy teased him.

"Moving back to the subject." Jeb said loudly. "To answer Nudge's questions, the person you're about to meet is a boy around Max and Fang's age. He was raised is a place much like the School."

Just then Dr. Hans walked back into the room. "Now, are we ready to meet that person I mentioned before?"

I stood up and was followed by the rest of the flock. The kids nodded eagerly and even Iggy looked enthusiastic.

I glanced at Fang and, like always, we were on the same page. This could possibly mean that we had a new friend and ally. Or, that we had a new enemy.

"Everyone," Dr. Hans said. "I'd like you all to meet Dylan." He gestured towards the doorway.

**Well, there's the longest chapter so far! YAY!**

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	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything!**

**Chapter Seven**

He stepped into the room looking extremely awkward and more than a little nervous. I guess that was understandable.

He had light brown hair that was neatly combed, deep blue eyes and he was lightly tanned. He was wearing a simple white t-shirt and light blue jeans.

Before he could do anything besides walk into the room, Nudge exploded again.

"OMG! Hi! You must be Dylan! I'm Nudge! And this is Max, Iggy, Angel, Gazzy and Fang." She said, pointing to us each as she said our names. "Do you really have wings, like us? Where have you been until now? What kind of food do you like?" Amazingly, she stopped herself. Apparently, her curiosity about Dylan over-rode her need to talk.

"Hi, everyone." He said, with a small wave.

"Well, I think I'll leave you all to get to know each other!" Dr. Hans said enthusiastically, smiling at all of us. "Come on, Jeb. I need to talk to you anyway." He lost some of his enthusiasm when he said this.

I glanced at Jeb again and was slightly shocked. Was Jeb _glaring_ at Dr. Hans?

But before I could decide if I was seeing things or not, Jeb's face went blank and he said "Of course."

After the two men closed the door I turned to Dylan.

_Is this another test?_ I wondered. Was this something Jeb cooked up to make sure I hadn't gone soft?

But since I had no idea how to pass this test, or even if it was a test, I decided to wing it. ( A bit of flock humour for ya there.)

"So, Dylan, tell us about yourself." I said conversationally.

We spent the next half an hour or so playing the Get to Know You Game.

He told us he had grown up in a lab in Minnesota, where he was experimented on, like us, until he was around eleven. Then, the experimenting and caging stopped. They started to teach him how to read and write. They basically schooled him from inside the lab. From what he told us, he knew way more than we did.

He learned how to fly in the courtyard with an electric net above him. They had even taught him how to fight.

"And when I started to fly at the speed of light, the scientist's didn't seem that surprised." He told us "It's like they programmed it in and were just waiting for it to show up." He paused. "Well, I guess that's probably the case."

"Wow! Max can fly real fast too! Isn't that cool!" Nudge went on to explain everyone else's powers and basically all the stuff that had happened to us in the past year.

By the time Miss Cole came in to tell us it was time for us to go home, I was starving.

I hadn't touched any of the food on the table and neither had anyone else, except for Dylan. And, as much as I hate to admit that Jeb still had any influence on me, that glare that I think he sent Dr. Hans only strengthened my suspicions about the scientist.

We all said our goodbyes and the flock and I headed back.

I opened the freezer and looked inside. "Wow, there's ice cream in here." I said. For some reason, I just didn't picture ice cream in Africa.

"Don't forget to check for any little wires." My mum joked from across the kitchen, where she was cooking some Mexican dish.

"I doubt they would put a bomb in ice cream." I replied with a smile. But I checked, just in case, as I headed out the back door onto the porch where Iggy, Angel and Nudge were.

"Oh Max, Africa is so pretty." Nudge said from the floor, where she and Angel were sitting. She was staring out at the sun that had just begun to set.

I made a noise of agreement as I sat on the chair next to the one Iggy was on.

She was right, I realised. Africa was like a whole new, exotic world compared to anything we had experienced so far.

"Yeah yeah, real pretty." Iggy said. "Can I have some of that ice cream?"

How he knew I had ice cream, I do not know.

"Ooh ice cream! I want some! I'll go get extra spoons." Nudge said, getting up and heading inside.

Angel was staring off into the horizon with a small frown on her face, like she was giving something serious thought.

"Hey sweetie, have you picked up on any weird vibes from Dr. Hans, or anyone?" I asked.

"No," she replied. "Dr. Hans thinks we're amazing, and Dylan seems really nice."

She was still staring at the horizon with that frown.

"What ya thinkin' bout?" I asked, sliding off my seat, onto the floor next to her.

"Nothing much." She said. "Just thinking, we should really hurry up with saving the world."

Nudge came back. "I git 'em!" she said and handed a spoon to Iggy.

Something about what Angel said bothered me. "We can't hurry something like this, Angel." I explained, as I opened the ice cream and handed it to Iggy. It had already started to melt.

"I know that it can fell like we're getting nowhere." God, did I know! "But there's only so much world we can save at a time."

"I know that." She told me. "I just figured that you would stop wanting to save the world." She said, finally looking up at me. "You know, after Fang dies."

**DUN DUN DUN!!!!**

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	8. Chapter 8

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**Chapter Eight**

Iggy froze with a huge scoop of ice cream halfway to his mouth. Nudge, who had walking towards me to hand me a spoon, stopped mid-step. I just stared at Angel, with a mix of disbelief and horror.

"What do you mean, Angel?" I asked, once I had recovered. "Fang's not going to die. Nobody is. Why would you think that?"

I glanced over at the others. Iggy was looking straight at me, and you could clearly see the surprise and fear in his eyes. Nudge just looked freaked.

And I understood why. This was scary, even for Angel.

Angel had returned her gaze to the horizon, but she looked back at me to answer.

"I don't think that, Max. I know that." She said, and her face got that look on it that I had come to dread. That stubborn look that told me nothing I said or did would change anything.

"Fang is going to die," she told me. "And it'll be soon."

"Angel, what…?" Nudge tried to say something but trailed off. What could you possibly say when a six year old predicts the death of another member of your family?

The whole mind controlling thing was creepy, but I could deal. The '_I want to be the leader'_ thing was slightly unnerving, but I thought I handled that pretty good. But I had no clue how to handle this one.

I had vaguely wondered how she had known about the whole 'gills' thing, but it never seemed that important, until now. She had been right about that, but I refused to even consider that she might be right about this. Because Fang couldn't die. It just didn't make sense.

But one thing was for sure, Angel had just raised the bar in the 'Terrifying Beyond All Belief' section.

Before I could even begin to come up with any sort of coherent reply, a safari jeep pulled up around the back of the house, and Jeb stepped out. I hadn't seen him since he went to "talk" with Dr. Hans.

"Max, I need to talk to you." He said, walking towards us.

I was still staring at Angel when she stood up. "I'm going to call Ella and see how Total and Akila are doing." She said, and skipped inside.

Total had finally decided to stay with Akila permanently, and they were currently back in America with my half-sister, Ella.

Jeb, who had climbed up the porch steps, noticed our stricken faces.

"What happened?" he asked tensely, and I vaguely noticed the similarities of when I had asked the exact same thing just this morning.

I considered telling him about Angel. Even though he had hidden stuff from me just the other day, I couldn't help but think that maybe, being one of the scientists that 'designed' her, he would know what the heck was going on with Angel.

But, no sooner had I thought of it, I dismissed the thought. I had to talk to Fang first. I had to know what he thought of it and go from there.

"Nothing happened." I said, again noticing the similarities to this morning. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

Jeb knew I was lying, partly because Iggy and Nudge still looked freaked out of their minds. But he also knew that he wouldn't find anything out until I chose to tell him.

He sighed and looked around at all of us. "Go get the others and meet me in the living room." He told us. "This is something you all should know."

I stared at the door after he had walked inside. What fresh hell was this?

"Max, should we…?" Nudge trailed off again, looking unsure and very young.

"I'm going to talk to Fang first." I told her, "Then we'll figure out…something."

Iggy didn't look convinced, "Are you sure you should-"

"Yes." I interrupted him. "Can you go get Gazzy and Fang, and tell them Jeb wants to talk to us? I'll speak with Fang later."

Because I _would_ speak with Fang. There was no way I was not going to tell him about this.

Iggy got up to find the others, leaving me and Nudge, who still looked freaked.

"You okay?" I asked gently.

"Yeah." She said, and took a deep breathe. She looked a bit calmer then, a little more normal.

"Okay, let's go see what Jeb wants." I said, and took a deep breathe myself.

Nudge and I walked into the living room. Everyone was already there, apart from my mum, who had to go back to the refuge camp real quick, to sort something out.

Nudge sat down next to Gazzy on the small couch, and I sat down next to Fang on the two-seater. He could tell right away that I needed to tell him something, but as I sat down I whispered "Later" and he nodded in understanding.

I glanced at Angel, but she seemed completely normal. That sick feeling I had was back again.

"Okay guys," Jeb started, grabbing all of our attentions. "Today you met Dr. Hans Gunther-Hagen and another winged boy, like yourselves." He looked around at all of us. "What are your thoughts about it?"

"Dr. Hans seems like a big moron." Gazzy stated bluntly.

"He's a bit too happy." Nudge said. "I mean, no one can be _that_ enthusiastic _all_ of the time." She pointed out, looking around at all of us.

"Dylan is good and really handsome, but he doesn't seem to know a lot about himself." Angel told the room in general. "Dr. Hans is really smart and nice, and he can help us in ways other people can't."

No one had anything to say to that. Angel seemed to have that affect on people a lot lately.

"I still think he's a moron." Gazzy muttered to himself.

"Regardless, of whether he's a moron or not." Jeb said with a small smile. But then he sobered up. "I want you all to know that Dr. Hans has plans that concern you."

"What kind of plans?" I asked. Why was Jeb being so open about this? What happened to 'everything is a test.'?

Jeb ran a hand through his greying hair. "You have to understand, this s very hard to explain." He told us. "You weren't designed with expiration dates, because we planned a longer purpose for you than any other recombinant. We planned your entire lives before you were even born. But as you know, a lot of our plans didn't work out."

"You got that right." Iggy said.

"Things happened that we didn't take into account before," Jeb went on. "Because you're able to think for yourselves, plan your own lives." He looked around at us proudly, but then sobered up again. He looked directly at me.

"We never planned for you and Fang to develop any feelings for each other apart from a strong family bond. From a scientific point of view, you two just aren't compatible. But-"

"Don't give me any more scientific crap!" I spat. My irritation had been growing ever since he mentioned planning our lives. "You just don't get it, Jeb! We're people. You can't _plan_ anything in our lives, no matter how much you try."

"I realise that." Jeb said calmly. "And I'm so proud of you, all of you. I want the flock to be happy, but more importantly, I want you to know what you're up against."

"Why are you being so straight with us?" I finally voiced my suspicions. "What's the catch?"

There's no catch, I assure you. This isn't part of your training. This is different from anything you've come up against."

Jeb took a deep breathe. "You see, Dylan was created for a purpose as well."

"Is he supposed to save the world too?" Gazzy inquired.

"That would be real handy." I said sarcastically. "Then I would only have to save half the world. We could divide it between us and trade superhero notes."

"Not exactly." Jeb answered Gazzy, ignoring my sarcasm.

"What do you mean 'not exactly'?" Fang asked, speaking for the first time.

Jeb looked between me and Fang, and finally his gaze rested on mine. "Dylan was created especially for you, Max. To be perfect for you. Your perfect other half."

**Sorry for the long wait, guys! This is my apology.**

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	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything!**

**Chapter Nine**

We all stared at Jeb for a few seconds. I was struggling to keep my cool. Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore.

I burst our laughing!

And I was immediately followed by the rest of the flock. We laughed long and hard, until our sides hurt and we were gasping for air. And then we laughed some more, and man, did it feel good!

Gazzy slid off the couch, onto the floor, followed soon by Nudge and Angel. Even Mr. Rock himself was laughing out loud. He was leaning over the armrest of the two-seater and I was slouched against him, my face bright red with laughter.

"I don't see what's so hilarious." Jeb said, a little indignantly.

"It's not hilarious." I choked out, trying to get my laughing fit under control. "I'm actually quite flattered."

We all calmed down a little and were gasping, trying to get our breathe back.

"How considerate of them." Angel joked.

"Yeah, what were they thinking?" Nudge asked incredulously.

"I think it went something like this." Gazzy said, and then he did an uncanny imitation of none other than Ter Borcht.

"Dis vill be der lives. Dey vill be tested und experimented on. Ve vill hunt dem und try to sell dem. If dey do not co-operate ve vill kill dem."

The imitation was so good, if I hadn't seen Gazzy's mouth moving, I would have looked around to see where Ter Borcht was.

"But lets make sure dey all haf dat special somevun." Gazzy finished. This set off another round of laughter.

For everyone, except Jeb.

"I don't think you're taking this as seriously as you should be." He said, looking at all of us.

Just then my mum walked in.

"What are you all laughing about?" she asked, coming into the room.

"Oh, nothing." I said. "We just found out that, when the School created us, they thought of _everything._"

"You told them?" she asked Jeb.

"You knew?" I asked. How had she known about Dylan? When had she found out?

"I've told them about Dylan." Jeb said to my mum. "I was going to continue, but they seemed to find that bit of information quite amusing."

"There's more?" Nudge asked.

"This should be good." Iggy commented.

"Jeb is right." my mum to us. "This is very serious."

I sat up straighter. What was so serious that my mum thought I should here it from Jeb?

"There's more, that concern you and Fang." Jeb explained. "As I'm sure you all know by now, Dr. Hans is a scientist in the field of recombinant DNA. He's almost as well known as Dr. Ter Borcht and twice as wealthy. But although he's very experienced in DNA in general, he doesn't specialize in any particular field, as I do."

"You do?" Gazzy asked.

"Yes, at the School I specialized in avian DNA. That's why I was put in charge of you six from the beginning, when we were designing your blueprints. Dr. Martinez knows as much as I do about avian DNA, being a vet."

"I don't see where this is going." I told him.

"I'm getting to the point, don't worry." Jeb said. "There are many things about you that Dr. Hans wouldn't understand. Like the internal compass. He wouldn't understand why it's there or how it works. But with Dr. Hans, if he doesn't understand something, he automatically sees it as unimportant and of little consequence."

"Still don't see where this is going." Iggy said.

"Another thing happened that the School didn't plan on, involving your behavioural patterns." My mum said.

"The school wasn't even aware of it." Jeb said "It's only something your mother and I have considered recently. We're not even 100% sure. It's a thought. A possibility." Jeb said.

"What are you guys talking about?" I asked exasperatedly.

"Max, we think you and Fang may have Imprinted." My mum explained.

"What's 'Imprinted'?" Angel asked.

"Isn't that what baby birds do with their parents?" Nudge asked.

"Yes, it is mostly birds who Imprint, but it also occurs in some mammals." My mum explained.

"There are different types of Imprints, but the most common one is Filial Imprinting." Jeb said. "It happens at a specific time in the beginning of life, when the newborn is vulnerable. In addition to being time-sensitive, Imprinting also happens very quickly."

"Baby birds usually Imprint on the first moving thing they see, usually their mother, and start to learn from and depend on her." My mum said,

What's the first thing you remember from the School?" Jeb asked me and Fang.

"The first thing I remember is a cage and pain." I said bluntly. "And lots of scientists."

Jeb had the decency to look guilty, but stayed on subject.

"This is where your human DNA comes in." he said. "Because you're mostly human -98%, you were able to sort through the things you saw and determine for yourself who you could depend on, which was obviously not the scientists."

"What's the first thing you remember, not counting what Max mentioned?" my mum asked.

"Each other." Fang answered, and I finally started to understand.

"We think it started out as a Filial Imprint." Jeb continued. "A family bond. But as you grew older together, it changed and grew as well."

"And your human attraction for each other and the things you've been through together have only strengthened it, turning it into a Mate for Life sort of bond." My mum told us.

Let's pause for a moment, shall we? To all of you people who complain about the awkward conversations you have with your parents, I think I just took the cake. But moving on.

"What does that have to do with Dr. Hans though?" Iggy asked.

"This is the point we're trying to make." My mum said, a hint of urgency in her voice. "He's never had anything to do with something like this. He wouldn't understand it at all."

"I tried to explain it to him today." Jeb told me and Fang. "I tried to explain that it's something natural for you, that can't, shouldn't be stopped. But he wouldn't listen. He only sees his science. The science that sais you two aren't compatible, and that Max and Dylan are. He only sees the Imprint as an obstacle keeping him from his goal."

"And this is where you get to your point?" I guessed.

"The only way to break an Imprint as strong as yours," Jeb concluded, looking between me and Fang. "Is if one of you dies."

* * *

"And the way she said it, Fang! It was like she was commenting on the weather!" I exclaimed.

Fang and I were on the roof of the safe house. It was extremely early in the morning, a bit past mid-night, and everyone else was asleep.

I had just told Fang about the _Sangoma_ and Angel's prediction. And he was still perfectly calm.

"Doesn't all of this bother you, at all?" I asked pulling the blanket we were sharing tighter around me. Fang had brought it from his room because, believe it or not, the African desert in _cold_ at night! Who knew?

"That _Sangoma_ woman just told you to 'brace your soul'. That could mean anything." Fang said to me. "She also said that you weren't strong. If she goes around saying crazy things like that, how right can she be about other things?"

"What about Angel's prediction?" I asked him.

"She's probably just looking for attention." Fang said.

"But angels never wrong!" I exclaimed, "As scary as that sounds, its true!"

Fang slid his arm around my waist and turned my chin to look in my eyes.

"Max, you're freaking out." He told me.

"Well, considering what's happened so far, I think I have an excuse." I said.

Fang chuckled and held me tighter, warming me better than any blanket could. I rested my head on his shoulder.

"You do realise your calmness about this whole thing is almost as unnerving as Angel's. Almost." I told him.

"Nothing is going to happen." Fang pulled away so he could see my eyes again. "I promise."

He tilted his head and kissed me, and my mind went blissfully blank. This was the first time we had been properly alone in days.

I pulled away and leaned on his shoulder again.

"So," I said. "This Imprint thing."

"Yeah, looks like your stuck with me." Fang joked, kissing my neck.

"Oh well," I replied. "I guess I can deal."

"We should probably get some sleep." Fang said.

"Yeah, another busy day tomorrow."

I turned my head to look out at the dark horizon. I sat up a little straighter and concentrated on what I was seeing. And I almost groaned.

"What is it?" Fang asked, following my gaze to the dark, moving figures in the air.

"Go wake the others." I said, getting up. "Looks like the Flyboys are back."

**Hope that all made sense.**

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	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything!**

**Chapter Ten**

"I thought all the Flyboys were gone." Iggy said, climbing onto the roof where I stood, watching the Flyboys come towards us.

"Apparently not." I said.

"So, what's the plan?" Gazzy asked.

I looked over my shoulder to see the rest of the flock standing behind me. I thought of my mum and Jeb in the house, asleep.

"Jeb is awake." Angel told me, hearing my thoughts. "He's contacting the refuge for assistance."

But my mum had no experience with fighting, and I didn't want to drag her into this.

"Help won't come fast enough." I said, making a snap decision. "Let's lead them away from the house."

I jumped off the roof and the flock followed, no questions asked.

The Flyboys followed as well, of course. And these ones were faster then I remembered them to be.

"Looks like these are a new version." Fang commented from beside me.

Once we were a good distance from the house, I turned to face the oncoming Robot-wolves.

"Okay guys, spread out." I ordered.

_Here we go_, I thought to myself, feeling adrenaline pump through my veins.

I launched myself at the closest Flyboy, swinging my feet under me to smash into its face. It flipped backward, but righted itself.

"You cannot win." It told me in a monotone.

"You would think that they would program you to say something a little more creative." I commented, before I flitted around it, grabbed its wings and kicked the base of its spine, hard.

Apparently, no one had thought to fix this little design flaw, because the Flyboy instantly folded backwards and plummeted towards the ground, where I could make out a bunch of tree's. We must have flown over some kind of forest.

_Focus Max!_ the Voice ordered, snapping me to attention.

I looked around to check on the other flock members. I saw Gazzy dodge two Flyboys and throw what looked like a black coin at them, shouting, "Heads!"

One second later, Gazzy was cackling madly while bits of Flyboy fell to the ground.

Iggy was dodging Flyboys as well, throwing his own bombs, and every couple of seconds you would here a small explosion.

Fang was fighting three Flyboys at once, and was holding his own.

Nudge was fighting two Flyboys. I swooped towards them and dropped down on the Flyboy that had grabbed Nudge's arm.

The Flyboy grabbed my ankle and yanked me down, at the same time swinging his other hand at my face. I turned sharply just in time to have its fist crash into the side of my head.

I did a scissor motion with my legs, kicking the Flyboys arm, forcing it to let my leg go, and kneeing it in the jaw, making its head whip backwards. I then proceeded to do the same thing I did before, flitting around, kicking its spine and watching it fall.

In my peripheral vision I saw a Flyboy aim its gun at Fang, who was now only fighting one furry robot.

"Fang!" I shouted in warning.

The Flyboy pulled the trigger, and it was like the world slowed down. I stopped breathing and I was able to see the bullet make its way towards Fang.

Fang dodged just in time. I breathed a sigh of relief and the world sped up again.

"Max!" I heard Angel yell, and I turned to see that a Flyboy had her in its clutches.

I sped over and grabbed the Flyboys arm, twisting it behind its back.

"You okay?" I asked Angel.

She nodded. "Thanks." She said, rubbing her arm where the Flyboy had grabbed her, and swooped away while I finished off the Flyboy.

Then, three things happened at the same time.

I heard two gunshots. Something hit me hard, forcing me up and to the left. I felt excruciating pain just above my hip, and I knew I had been shot.

This pain was worse than when I was shot in the shoulder. It made me dizzy and made my vision go all spotty.

I was flying unevenly and I was finding it hard to stay in the air. I was slowly descending, every flap of my wings shooting white-hot pain through my side.

I heard someone scream my name. Below me, I saw where the desert met the trees and focused very hard on getting there.

My clothes were soaked in blood and I knew if I didn't stop my bleeding soon, I would be in big trouble.

I saw a jeep speeding towards us, but I was too dizzy to care who it was. My vision went black for a few seconds and I dropped ten feet.

I tried to take deep breaths. I didn't want to go splat, so blacking out wasn't an option.

I got to the edge of the desert, just when the jeep pulled up. I collapsed onto the sand and heard the jeep door open.

"Max!" my mum screamed, running towards me and falling to her knees beside me.

Jeb was kneeling somewhere near my head.

"Don't worry sweetie. You'll be alright." He said, stroking my hair. "She has one bullet wound on her side. We need to stop the bleeding and get her to the refuge's hospital centre."

Everything sounded really far away, and I felt really light for some reason. I heard the flock land close by, and somebody crying, which bothered me.

"The flock." I said, and was surprised to hear only a whisper.

"They're fine." Jeb said. "They're safe."

I closed my eyes while my mum tried to stop the bleeding, but opened them again.

"Fang." I whispered, looking up at my mum. I wanted him next to me.

My mum looked up at the flock, and a look of confusion came on her face.

Then she said the words that made my eyes widen in fear, and adrenaline pour into my veins, affectively snapping me out of my almost unconscious state.

"Where's Fang?" she asked.

**Now the story's getting somewhere!**

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	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything!**

**Chapter Eleven**

_Everything was really dark. I was surrounded by tall, close-knit trees. I was walking, not knowing where I was going. I kept tripping over vines and roots._

"_Fang." I called out, looking around for him._

_It was unnaturally quiet, which made me nervous. I started walking faster._

"_Fang!" I shouted out to the forest._

_And I saw him. He was up ahead, facing away from me, walking slowly. I started running towards him._

"_Fang!" I called louder. He didn't turn. He made no indication that he had heard me._

_I was sprinting now, despite the fact that I was stumbling every so often. Why didn't he turn around?_

"_Fang!" I finally reached him, slightly out of breathe._

_Still he didn't turn. I grabbed his shoulder and yanked him around to look at me._

"_Fang." I said, only this time, it came out as a strangled whisper._

_He stared at me with vacant eyes. It was like he wasn't there._

_But, of coarse he was here! He was standing right in front of me._

"_Fang?" I asked quietly._

"_Max." he said in a monotone, and started turning away from me._

"_Hey, wait!" I said, grabbing his shoulder again. "What's wrong with you?"_

"_Nothing." He replied with no emotion. But he actually started to fade, his outline blurring slightly. And that scared me more than I would ever admit._

"_You promised!" I said at him, holding onto his shirt. "You promised you would never leave me! You promised nothing would happen!" My voice had slowly risen until I was shouting at him._

_He just stared at me, empty and expressionless._

_I remembered Omega, and what Jeb had said about him not having a soul. I remembered the emptiness that had been in his eyes._

_And the emptiness that was now in Fang's._

* * *

I jolted upright in bed, causing searing pain to shoot through my side.

I was covered in a thin layer of sweat, and my breathing was a little uneven. I hadn't had a nightmare in a long time. And this one had been slightly more unnerving than any other one I've had.

After the fight with the Flyboys earlier this morning, my mum and Jeb had rushed me to the doctors that were at the refuge. They had removed the bullet from my side and patched me up, and the flock had had to donate some blood.

The flock hadn't seen me get shot and they hadn't seen what had happened to Fang. One second he was there, fighting, and the next, he just…wasn't.

What really made me mad, was the fact that the rangers at the refuge wouldn't go look for Fang in the dark. They just said they would start looking in the morning. They mentioned something about 'wild animals' and 'thinking logically'. Like that was going to calm me down.

What was even worse, was that they wouldn't let me go search for Fang myself, because I was 'critically injured'.

I didn't care if I was injured! One of my flock was _missing_.

Unfortunately, I didn't get to charge off to look for Fang, because they gave me something to 'relieve the pain' that conveniently made me really drowsy, as well.

So, here I was a few hours later, back at the safe house, in my room, the anaesthesia and pain killers gone from my system.

It was still dark outside, and the pain in my side was almost crippling.

_Pain is just a message,_ I told myself, taking a few deep breathes.

I glanced at Angel, sleeping in her bed. There were dry tear tracks on her cheeks, and it was obvious she was having a nightmare.

I got up and went over to crouch by her bed, ignoring the pain when I moved.

"Angel." I said quietly, shaking her shoulder gently. "Angel, sweetie."

Her eyes shot open, and she looked around the room, panicked. She looked at me, and fresh tears started streaming down her face.

"Oh, Angel." I said, climbing onto her bed and pulling her into my lap. "It's okay, Angel. It was only a bad dream."

"I didn't want him to die, Max!" she sobbed into my shoulder. "I miss him so much, already."

"Fang's not dead." I said firmly. "You don't know that. We'll find him, don't worry." I told her soothingly.

Angel only sobbed harder.

* * *

"Why can't I help with the search party?" I asked my mum.

"Flying would put too much strain on your body." She told me.

It was early morning, and Jeb had organised a group of people to go out and look for Fang.

"I'll stay on the ground, then." I said.

"Max, what you need now is rest." My mum said.

"No, what I need now is to find Fang. And they would find him sooner if one of the flock goes with." I explained.

"No." she said firmly. "Jeb hasn't found out where those robots came from. It's too dangerous for any of you to leave the house.

"But-"I said.

"Max," she interrupted me. "You need to heal. You can't do anything until then. The rangers know that forest better than you do. They're the best chance of finding Fang." She told me.

"It's not a case of finding Fang, or not" I said, a little agitated. "I know we'll find him. It's just a case of how long he'll have to be out there."

My mum looked at me with a weird expression on her face, but then she gave me a small smile.

"I know." She said.

* * *

"I know we're all worried, but everything will be fine." I told the flock.

We were all sitting around the living room, looking miserable.

It had been a long day of doing absolutely nothing, and I was going crazy because of it.

"I'll be healed enough tomorrow, and we can join the search party. I don't care what anyone has to say about it." I said. "I think you guys should go to bed. The more energy we have for tomorrow, the better."

"You won't have a lot of energy if you don't sleep, Max." Angel said from the couch, where she was curled up next to Nudge.

Her eyes were red and swollen.

"I will sleep…later." I lied. "Now, come on, bed time."

The flock all filed out of the room and off to their bedrooms. Iggy hung back.

"Do you really think Fang is okay?" he asked me.

"Of course I do!" I said. "Don't you?"

"I don't know." He said quietly. "Are you going to sleep?"

"No," I said, thinking of the dream I had the night before. "No, I'm not going to sleep until Fang is back."

I looked closer at Iggy. He had dark circles under his eyes, and he looked absolutely hopeless.

"Fang_ is_ coming back." I told him firmly.

Iggy looked down at the ground he couldn't see.

"You should try to get some sleep." He said, before leaving the room.

**Review!**

**(when I started writing, I never thought reviews would make me update faster, but they do! :P)**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything!**

**Chapter Twelve**

_I was in the middle of the desert. Everywhere I turned, all I could see was sand, going on for miles._

_It was night, but the sand was still warm under my feet, from the day's heat. Why I was barefoot, I did not know._

_I started walking, like last time, but instead of feeling nervous or scared, I just felt really tired._

"_Fang." I called out._

_He appeared right in front of me, staring at me with that same weirdly empty gaze. But I was too tired to care._

_I sighed. "Fang, lets just go home." I said wearily._

_I saw the slightest flicker of pain in his eyes. No one else but me would have seen it at all._

"_I can't." he said._

"_Why the hell not?" I asked, getting irritated and angry._

_Fang looked away, and then back at me. And again he was oddly unemotional._

"_I'm sorry, Max." he said in a monotone, and began to fade._

My eyes shot open. I was curled up on the couch in the living room. I had managed to stay awake until very early morning before I nodded off.

My side didn't hurt that much today. It was probably almost fully healed.

I could see the sun coming up through the window, but the house was quiet. Everyone was probably still asleep.

I got up slowly and stretched, testing my side, until a small jolt of pain shot through me. I winced and looked at the clock. I had only gotten a few hours of sleep.

I left the room and went to go get some breakfast.

When I opened the door to the kitchen, I saw my mum sitting at the table, her back to me. Her shoulders were shaking.

"Mum?" I asked, worried.

She looked around and wiped her eyes. "Oh, good morning, Max." She said, getting up and coming towards me.

"Are you okay?" I asked.

"Oh, I'm fine." She replied. "How about you? You look tired."

"I didn't sleep great." I admitted. "Are you sure you're alright?" I asked again, noticing my mums slightly puffy, red eyes.

"Yes, just stressed and worried." She said, and then sighed. "And more than a little depressed."

I knew she was talking about Fang. I understood the worried and the stressed completely, but why depressed?

Why was everyone acting like Fang was gone forever?

Biting down on my irritation, I tried to comfort her, while also trying to clear up a very important point.

"Fang's not dead, mum. He's just…" I glanced around, searching for the right words. "Not here." I finished lamely.

My mum hesitated, then gave me a sad smile and said "Your right. We have to stay positive."

This just annoyed me more.

My mum hugged me then, and Jeb walked into the room.

"Max, I need to talk to you." He said.

My mum let me go. "What's wrong, Jeb?" she asked.

"I just got off the phone with the leader of the search party." He said, and turned to me. He looked tired and stressed.

"They have a strict system that says they don't continue searching for anyone after the 48 hour mark." He explained tensely. "They'll call off the search party after today."

"What?" I asked incredulously. "They're going to give up after only two days?"

"I tried talking with them, but they're not budging on this." Jeb said with a sigh. "If you're going to join the search party, it will have to be today."

I took a deep breathe and let it out loudly. "That's fine." I said.

Just then there was a knock on the door.

I tensed and looked at Jeb.

"Wake the flock, in case these are unwanted visitors." He told me.

I headed down the hall to the bedrooms, while Jeb went to answer the door.

"Hello! Good morning, Jeb!" said a very enthusiastic voice from the front of the house, and I groaned quietly.

I headed back towards the kitchen, not bothering to wake the flock, seeing as these visitors were pretty harmless. Unwanted, but harmless.

Dr. Hans and Dylan were in the kitchen, and were being greeted by my mum.

"Hello." She said. "Please sit down. Would you like anything to eat? I was just about to make some breakfast."

I wondered why my mum was being so nice to him. Then I remembered that he was a really important man, who donated a lot towards the CSM.

"Oh no, I'm fine, thank you!" Dr. Hans said. "But I'm sure Dylan here wouldn't mind a bite to eat." He chuckled lightly, making me want to hit him.

Dylan noticed me first, and gave me a small wave and a tentative smile.

"Max!" Dr. Hans boomed, finally noticing me in the doorway. "Come over here and sit with us!"

I walked slowly over towards the table where they sat, remembering what Jeb had said about Dr. Enthusiastic.

"I just heard about what happened." Dr. Hans continued. "Terrible, very tragic." He said. "Dylan and I just came over to pay our respects."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw my mum glance at me.

"Pay your respects?" I asked tersely.

"Well, yes." Dr. Hans said, like this was obvious. "I heard poor Fang has been missing since the night before last. That's a very long time, especially in a dangerous place like Africa. And with the freezing night temperatures," Dr. Hans sighed, and looked at me sadly. "It's not looking good." He finished.

I didn't dare say anything. If I did, I risked losing my temper and beating him to a pulp. I just glared at him silently.

Dr. Hans brightened up then. "I figured that, perhaps Dylan here could help Max with any grief she might feel!" he said, gesturing toward the bird boy in question.

That little-! I couldn't believe the nerve of this guy! He didn't care about Fang, he just wanted to get me with Dylan! That sick little-!

I took a step towards him, but my mum put a calming hand on my arm.

I stopped and just focused on getting control on my anger.

Dylan had the decency to look uncomfortable and embarrassed.

I glanced at Jeb, and there was no denying it this time. He was glaring at Dr. Hans with contempt and disgust.

I looked back to the scientist.

"I'm not grieving." I said with an even tone, which was the exact opposite of what I was feeling. I stared at Dr. Hans, then at Dylan, making sure to get the message across. "And I don't need help with anything."

I turned and walked out of the room. I glimpsed Dylan rising from his seat slightly as I left, and I thought, _if that kid follows me, I swear I'm going to kill him._

I walked down the hall, towards my and Angel's room, but when I passed Fang's room I paused.

I stared at the door handle for awhile, then reached out and turned it. I opened the door slowly and stepped inside.

There was really nothing in here of Fang's, except some of his clothes. I walked across the room and picked up a black shirt off the ground.

I brought the shirt up to my face. It smelled like Fang, familiar and comforting, which triggered all sorts of emotions, and one particular thought that I had been avoiding since I woke from the first nightmare.

What if Fang _didn't_ come back? I squeezed my eyes shut, fighting tears.

"Fang." I whispered, almost silently.

I heard a creak behind me, and was instantly angry. That kid just doesn't get the hint.

I sighed angrily. "Dylan, if you want to keep all of your limbs, I advise you leave the room right-" All the air left my lungs at once as I turned to face the door.

Because there, leaning against the doorframe, in a painfully familiar stance, was Fang.

**Review!!!**


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: Sorry about the long wait, guys. I'll be updating more often from now on!**

**Disclaimer: don't own anything! JP owns Maximum Ride and a piece of the dialogue is from the movie "Always (1989)", where the idea for this story came from.**

**Chapter Thirteen**

Don't get too excited. I blinked and he was gone.

I stood where I was, my mouth hanging slightly open, until I unfroze and rushed over to the door.

I put my hand out in front of me, and felt nothing. So he hadn't just gone invisible.

I stuck my head out into the hall and looked up and down it. Nothing.

I turned around and scanned the room, but no one was here but me.

"Fang." I said, but nothing happened. What was expecting? For him to just appear in front of me, like in the dreams?

I was still staring around the room when I heard another creak behind me.

"Max?" Nudge said, coming out of her room across the hall.

I tore my eyes away from the room to look at her. She hadn't combed her hair yet, and it reminded me of when she was younger, when her hair was like a mane.

"What are you doing in Fang's room?" she asked, coming into the room.

"Uh." I said, distractedly. I was still trying to figure out what just happened.

I hadn't imagined seeing Fang, had I? He had looked so real, so…solid. Not like in the nightmares.

"I, um…"

"Are you okay?" Nudge asked, peering at me. "You look really pale."

"I'm, uh…I'm fine." I said, trying to focus on Nudge, but still glancing around the room.

Was this like when I kept seeing myself as an Eraser? Was I going to start seeing Fang everywhere?

I looked at Nudge. Her eyes were sad and grieving, making her look way older than eleven.

"Come on." I said, ushering her out of the room. "Let's go get some breakfast."

"Okay." Nudge headed down the hall towards the kitchen, but I hung back for a moment, closing Fang's door and leaning against it.

I tilted my head back and closed my eyes, trying to think.

Was I going crazy? I decided not to worry about it too much for now, and headed down the hall after Nudge.

At the end of the hall was Dr. Hans and Dylan, with Jeb and my mom.

"There you are, Max!" Dr. Hans said. He seemed unfazed by what had happened earlier.

My mom peered at me. "Max, are you alright? You look a bit sick."

"I'm fine." I told her.

"Max, great news!" Dr. Hans said brightly. "Dylan will be staying here with you and the flock!"

I turned to stare at Jeb, outraged. What was he thinking? But Jeb gave me a meaningful look and I caught on immediately.

If Dr. Hans was behind Fang's disappearance, we had to keep an eye on him, and we could do that by keeping an eye on Dylan.

I still thought that Jeb could have thought of a better way to do it though.

I was not happy about this.

"Fine." I said, turning back to glare at Dylan. "You can sleep on the couch."

Dr. Hans seemed surprised by this. "Well, seeing as there's now an extra room availa-"

"He can sleep on the couch!" I said fiercely.

Before anyone could say anything, I went into the kitchen where Nudge was eating breakfast. My mom followed me.

"Are you sure you're okay, Max? You really don't look well." She said.

"I'm just…really tired." It wasn't exactly a lie, either.

"I don't think you should go out with the search party. You're still not fully healed."

Now that I thought about it, my side was aching, making me want to curl up in a ball on the floor.

"You can search for Fang tomorrow," my mom continued. "Without the search team."

"Yeah, okay." I agreed tiredly. Now, I know what you're thinking. The great Maximum Ride, staying at home while other people look for a member of her family?

But honestly, between the lack of sleep, the aching side and the possibility of me starting to lose my mind, I just didn't think I could handle a search and rescue mission today.

So, the flock and I spent another day at the safe house, waiting for news from the search team. Some of the flock made conversation with Dylan, who didn't seem to be as annoying or enraging as Dr. Hans.

Actually, the day went by pretty fast. For me at least. I couldn't stop thinking about what had happened that morning. Had I seen Fang, or hadn't I? Was I going insane, or was it just stress? Millions of questions went through my head that I had absolutely no answers for.

Finally, it was time for bed. As planned, Dylan slept on the couch, with a pillow and blankets provided by my mom.

The flock each went to there rooms, but again, I stopped at Fang's door.

I wanted so badly to go in there, to look around again.

"You should." Came a voice from behind me. I looked down to see Angel.

"You should go in there." She said again. "It might make you feel better."

"Thanks, Angel." I said.

"You need time to be by yourself and to think." She continued seriously, almost sadly. "We all do."

"It's going to be okay, Ange." I tried to comfort her.

"Goodnight, Max." she said, heading to the room we shared.

"Night, Angel." I said, and went into Fang's room.

Nothing had changed since I had been in here, only now it was very dark. I walked over to the bed, which was neatly made.

I glanced over my shoulder at the closed door. Nothing.

I sighed and climbed into the bed. What Angel didn't know was that I had wanted more than to just look around. I knew it was weird, and it probably wasn't too healthy but, I had been hoping to see Fang again.

I curled up and fell asleep quickly, exhausted. I could only hope that the faint smell of Fang on the sheets would keep the nightmares away.

* * *

**Third person pov:**

He watched Max as she slept, characteristically frowning in her sleep. He knew she had been having nightmares the past couple nights, but it wasn't like he could help her.

He didn't know exactly why he was here. He didn't even know _how_ he was here.

Because Fang remembered dying.

He remembered the fight with the Flyboys. He remembered seeing a Flyboy aim directly for Max's heart, and the sheer terror he had felt. He remembered vividly that he had been below Max and too far away to get the Flyboy, but maybe, if he could just get to Max first…

He remembered calling out her name, trying to warn her, flying faster than he thought he ever had before. The panic, thinking he wouldn't get there fast enough.

Hearing the gunshots, smashing into Max. The split second of pain. The feeling that he was floating.

The Darkness.

He remembered it all. So, why was he still here?

Max tossed in her sleep, and Fang knew the nightmare had started.

He had tried comforting her, talking to her, but he knew she couldn't hear him. It was like he wasn't there. Talk about frustrating!

Except for that morning. It was almost like she had seen him watching her, had sensed him somehow.

But that was impossible. Wishful thinking.

Max tossed in bed again, his bed.

He knew that there had been a search party looking for hm. He knew everyone knew he was dead, except Max. Of course she would be the stubborn one.

He also knew that that Dylan kid was asleep in the living room.

He had been watching them all, seeing as he was, basically, non-existent to the world, and couldn't really do anything else!

Fang had figured out that he could walk through walls and doors and stuff. He wasn't solid at all.

Max appeared to be what was keeping him connected with this world. Because whenever he was here, he was with her. And when he wasn't here, he was…he wasn't anywhere. It was just…nothingness.

But all he had to do was think of Max and then, bam, he was with her.

"Max." he whispered, watching her toss and turn, wishing he could just shake her awake, end the nightmare. But, of course he couldn't, because his hand would simply go _through_ her shoulder.

Max stilled in her sleep, and again Fang had the suspicion that she could sense him somehow.

"I miss you so much, Max." he whispered.

Max sighed, seeming less restless.

Fang looked around the room. It was still dark, but it would soon be getting light.

"You always made me laugh." He whispered, more to himself than to her.

"Nuh uh." Max mumbled. Fang whipped round to stare at her.

Had she-? Could she possibly…? Fang decided to test his theory.

"Yes you did." He said to her.

"You never laughed." Max said softly. He knew she was asleep by the way she was talking almost dreamily.

"I never laughed at your jokes, but there were plenty of times I laughed at _you._" He teased.

Fang smirked at the annoyed look on Max's face. "You always did the stupidest things." He said fondly. "Like when we were learning to fly, and you thought a good way to learn would be to jump off the roof into the canyon." He brought up the age old argument between them.

"That was you idea." Max breathed. Fang's smile grew. She never could resist this particular argument, even when she was mad at him.

"Was not."

"Was too." She argued.

"No. Remember, you jumped off first. I jumped after you because you were plummeting towards the ground."

"Liar." She whispered.

Fang knelt down by the bed, gazing at Max's face. He wanted more than anything to reach out and stroke her cheek. The fact that he couldn't killed him. And yes, he did get the irony.

"You have to move on, Max." he told her, hating the thought of it. "I don't know how long I'll be able to stay."

"Don't leave." Max said simply.

Well, that decided it for him. He would stay with her, protect her any way he could. He would try to make some kind of contact with her in the morning.

If she was talking to him now, that meant she definitely sensed him on some level. And if it turned out that he could only talk to her when she was asleep, well, then he could deal.

"I won't, I promise." Fang whispered, leaning forward until his face was close to hers. So close that, if he closed his eyes and concentrated, he could _almost_ feel the warmth from her face.

"I swear, I'll never leave you."

**Okay guys, please review, because I'm a little unsure about this chapter. Were they out of character? Was it too soppy?**

**Also, is anyone interested in this story now that the real book has come out? **

**Review!!!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything!**

**A/N: First of all, I'd like to thank everyone who's reviewed so far, especially wildwriter2147, who actually said this was better than JP's one. That actually made me giggle with happiness, and trust me, I don't giggle! So thank you all for the reviews! Your all Awesome!!!**

**Also, I've recently joined the Maximum Ride User Based Casting Website, and I would really appreciate if you guys would check out my page. The link is on my page on this website. Leave a comment/review on here, or there, tell me what you honestly think! Thanks!**

**Chapter Fourteen**

I woke up the next morning feeling weirdly calm. Well rested and less tense.

I could see the light coming in the window through my eyelids. I closed my eyes tighter, trying to fall back asleep, to start dreaming again.

Last night's dream had been the coolest I'd ever had. It had started out like a nightmare, me wandering around, calling out for Fang. But then it had changed.

The nightmare dissolved into nothingness. A comforting darkness, like Fang himself.

In the darkness, I was talking to Fang, having a regular conversation. We even argued a little, like we always did. I had felt happier than I had in days.

But then I started noticing that the darkness was decapitating, getting brighter. I was waking up. Crap.

So, here I was, trying desperately to cling onto sleep and failing miserably. I finally gave up, groaned and got up, swinging my legs off the bed.

The first thing I did was scan the room, but no one was there.

I sighed. I had been almost certain that I had seen Fang, but now I was starting to suspect that I had imagined the whole thing.

I stood up and instantly noticed that my side was completely healed. No aches, no pain, just that weird tight feeling you get with newly healed muscle. Well, that was one good thing, at least.

My stomach growled, so I headed to the kitchen. On my way out of Fang's room I heard him.

"Max."

It was just a whisper, but it was unmistakably Fang's voice.

I spun around, but no one was there. I listened, but I didn't hear anything.

I stayed like that for a while, before sighing and leaving to get breakfast.

The house was quiet, no sound but deep breathing of sleeping flock members as I passed their doors. While passing the living room, I glanced in. Dylan was at the book shelf, glancing through them.

"Hey." I said, stepping into the room. "What are you doing?"

"Oh, hey." Dylan said, turning to face me. "I was just looking." He explained, motioning to the bookcase.

I searched his face, but he didn't seem to be lying. "Are you hungry?" I asked. "I was going to get some breakfast."

"I'm starving!" he said, smiling shyly at me. "I was going to make some eggs, but I didn't want to wake anybody."

"You can cook?" I asked, surprised and interested. I felt the air around me get tense, but couldn't figure out what it was.

"Kind of. I can cook certain things alright, but the choices are pretty limited." He joked.

I smiled at him, still trying to understand the tension in the air.

"Well, come on." I said, turning to leave the room. "I'm starving as well so-"

That's when I stumbled slightly, apparently tripping over my own feet.

That's also when the window shattered and the part of the door above my head exploded from the force of the bullet hitting it.

My instincts took over immediately.

"Get down!" I yelled, grabbing Dylan and dragging him to the floor. I was pretty sure I had splinters everywhere in my face.

The living room was exploding everywhere with bullets, coming in from the window. The sound of gunfire and shattering wood was deafening as shots hit doors, walls and chairs.

The floor was littered with glass as I crawled across it towards the hall, motioning for Dylan to copy me.

In the hall we managed to climb out a window and jump into the air.

I had a split second to wonder how the heck the window had already been conveniently unlocked and wide open, and to hope that the others were okay before I was surrounded by Flyboys.

There weren't as many this time, but there were less of us, only me and Dylan. I glanced over at him between punches and saw that he was getting the stuffing kicked out of him.

He may have been trained to fight, but he lacked any experience in real, 'to the death' battles. We were toast.

"_Behind you!"_

I instantly turned and blocked the blow from a Flyboy that had snuck up on me.

"_Drop, Max!"_

Without hesitation, I folded my wings and dropped ten feet. In doing so, I dodged around ten bullets that had been meant for me. The bullets hit other Flyboys, who dropped towards the ground, the red lights in their eyes fading.

I didn't have time to dwell on the fact that I was hearing Fang's voice in my head when he was nowhere in sight. Or how he was able to give me life saving instructions. I'd think about it later.

Right now I just listened to him. He said 'dive', I dived. He said 'turn left', I turned left. He said do a 360 roll in midair, I…well, you get the idea.

And every time, I avoided severe injury and/or death.

We had only been fighting for a couple minutes before the flock burst out of the house to help.

It didn't take long after that. We all landed near the house a few minutes later, banged up, bruised but, thankfully, all present and accounted for.

"We need to give you some fighting tips." Gazzy said to Dylan conversationally, as Jeb and my mom rushed up to us.

"Are you all okay?" my mom asked, checking each of us for serious injuries. She looked fairly unharmed, I noticed, relieved.

Jeb had obviously been fighting from the ground. He had a split lip and a black eye, but was still standing.

"This isn't safe anymore." He told us. "We're heading to the refuge immediately. We'll figure something out from there."

I sighed for the millionth time that day.

The morning wasn't even over, and already today I had been shot at, been in a fight for our lives, had my house shot to heck, had _another_ voice in my head that wasn't my own and I was still hungry!

Well, I could just tell that this was going to be a _fantastic_ day.

* * *

In the end we had to stay in the house Dylan had been staying in with Dr. Hans. Which was absolutely _great_. On top of everything, I now had the doctor following me around asking if I would like to have _tea_ with _Dylan_.

Jeb spent the day calling his contacts, trying to find out where the Flyboys had come from, with no luck.

Mom called Ella to update her on everything, editing a lot of it so Ella wouldn't worry so much.

But she still worried. I mean, there's only so much you can edit on the fact that one of us was _missing_.

I was in a truly horrible mood by the end of the day, to the point where the flock were doing their best to avoid me.

It was a relief when it was finally time for bed.

The girls were in one small room with my mom, while the boys, Jeb and Dylan were in the small room next to us. Dr. Hans would be staying in the biggest room in the house down the hall.

I was secretly eager to get to sleep. I had been wondering if there was a pattern here. Two nightmares, two conversation dream...things. I really hoped so, because I really needed some rest.

I went to bed dreading the morning.

* * *

There was no good dream with me talking to Fang.

There was no nightmare.

And, it turned out that my morning started with me jolting straight up in bed, in a pitch black room, with a dark figure looming over me.

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**And, one final thing. I'm planning on maybe entering JP's writing contest. You guys think I'm good enough?**


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything!**

**Chapter Fifteen**

I sucked in a lung full of air, but before I could do anything the figure spoke.

"Max."

Good thing I had taken a deep breath, because I momentarily forgot to breathe.

"Fang?" I said, when I finally recovered.

He stilled, and then cautiously, almost hesitantly, lowered himself until he was sitting next to me on the edge of the bed, half facing me.

He looked different. It was dark in the room and I was pretty sure I was in some state of shock, but it was definitely him. He was just…different somehow. I couldn't put my finger on it.

He almost blended in with the darkness around us, but I could see him searching my face.

"You can see me?" he asked softly.

"Yeah." I said. My brain was working really slow, and yet really fast at the same time. "Of course I can see you. Where have you been?" I asked, not bothering to whisper.

"Max…" Fang looked at me and let out a breath. "Max, I died."

"What? Fang, what are you talking about? You're not dead, you're right here."

"Max?" my mom asked quietly, from her bed, sounding half asleep. "Who are you talking to?"

"I-" I began to reply, but got cut off by Fang.

"Max, she can't see or hear me. As far as I know, no one can but you."

I looked from Fang to my mom, and back. What was he talking about?

"Max?" my mom asked, waking up a bit more.

"Let me explain everything." Fang said to me, motioning towards the door.

If it had been anyone other than Fang, I would have said 'No Way!' But I trusted Fang with my life.

"No one, mom." I replied, still looking at Fang. "I'm just going out to get some air."

"Be careful." She yawned, and drifted back to sleep while I left the room.

* * *

"So I _did_ see you in the doorway." I said, after Fang had explained about the whole 'being here, but not really being here'.

And I figured out what the difference in Fang was. He was see-through.

Not completely, and it was only noticeable in a well lit area. For example: outside, with the sun rising, where we currently were.

Have you ever seen those sci-fi movies, where there are holograms that look solid, until you put your hand through it and feel nothing but air? Yeah, that basically summed up Fang.

"I thought I was losing my mind." I told him, not entirely sure that I hadn't. I mean, here I was talking with Fang's…ghost. That doesn't make me sound nuts _at all_.

"Yeah, I thought I was imagining things too." Fang said. "I wasn't sure if you had really seen me."

Something dawned on me then.

"And you opened the window, so we could get out. And gave me those instructions during the fight."

"I was the one that tripped you as well."

"You tripped me?" I asked. I didn't remember that.

But then I did. When the bullet had hit the door where my head had been, after I stumbled.

"Well, you couldn't hear me at the time. I had to do _something_." Fang explained.

"Wait, how could you have tripped me, if you're not solid? I asked.

We had already figured out that Fang wasn't solid, when I realized I was finally talking to Fang, after being apart for so long, and I tried to hug him.

The look of surprise and confusion on my face when I went _through_ him actually made Fang laugh out loud.

It was definitely a down side, that no doubt would get increasingly annoying, but right now all that mattered was that Fang was here…kinda.

Fang looked away, thinking.

"I don't know." He finally replied. "I didn't think about it. I just did it, because I _had_ to. If I hadn't you would've-" he stopped, looking away from me again, and the memory of the door exploding from the force of collision from that single bullet played vividly in my mind.

"Okay." I said, taking a deep breathe. My mind had been buzzing ever since I had woken up. The flock would be awake soon, and I had to figure out what I would say.

"Okay." I repeated. "Let me get this straight." I glanced at Fang. "You're definitely dead?"

"Definitely." He confirmed.

"But you're still here. Well, semi here." I corrected myself, noticing only my shadow on the ground. "I can see you and talk to you."

"But no one else can. Are you going to tell the others?" Fang asked.

"I don't know." I said slowly, thinking. "I want to. I really want to, but…"

"They won't believe you." Fang said, reading my mind. "They'll think you've gone nuts."

"Probably."

We had walked a good distance away from Dr. Hans's house, and I now heard Nudge calling my name from somewhere inside. Looks like the flock had woken up.

"You should head back." Fang told me.

"Aren't you coming, as well?" I asked, feeling the first pangs of irrational panic.

"Of course I am." Fang said, looking like he wanted to smirk.

Something caught my attention in the distance. I don't know why, because there was nothing special about it, nothing that stuck out. But I still found myself staring at that lonesome house in the distance.

And then it clicked what I was staring at.

"Come on, Fang. We'll head back later, I have to do something first." I said, walking towards the house, the opposite direction of where Dr. Hans lived.

"Where are we going?" Fang asked, following without hesitation.

"To get some answers." I said. "How do you feel about meeting a _Sangoma_?"

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	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything!**

**Chapter Sixteen**

The _Sangoma's_ house looked exactly the same as last time. And, just like last time, when we neared the door, it opened and there stood the same old woman.

She nodded at us -I mean me- and turned to go back inside. We followed her in.

She didn't pay any attention to me at first, just turned her back to rummage through a chest of drawers.

"Is this the lady that told you to brace yourself?" Fang asked me, not bothering to whisper since I was the only one that could hear him.

Before I could nod at Fang, the _Sangoma_ spoke, her back still turned away from us.

"Yes, that would be me." She said simply. She turned back to us with a very old looking book in her hands.

"I'm assuming this is your soul mate Fang?" she asked me, gesturing to where Fang stood next to me.

"You-you can see him?" I asked. I was surprised, but I honestly didn't know why. I should have been expecting this.

"Yes." She replied. "One of the many names for me is a spirit contact, as you have already been told."

How had she known that that was one of the things Brigid had told me?

"How do you know these things?" I asked.

"That is a story too long and complicated for one day." She gave me a heavy look. "And it is not why you are here."

"I want answers." I stated bluntly.

"Sit." She motioned to the chairs by the table, and we all sat.

"Ask me your questions." She said once we were settled.

Okay, start with the simple ones.

"Why is Fang still here? How can I see him? Why can't anyone else? Why-" I stopped when she held up a hand.

"No one knows for certain why spirits stay in this world, there are many possibilities." She explained. "You can see Fang because you are soul mates. You are connected to his soul and his spirit. No one can have more than one soul mate, therefore, no one can sense Fang but you."

I digested that information for a moment, and then turned to Fang.

"Jeb said that we had imprinted. Maybe that mental connection has-" I started, but the _Sangoma_ interrupted.

"Do not speak to me of any scientist and what they say has happened!" she said angrily.

"Why?" Fang asked.

"Scientists constantly twist things into something they are not! They turn something pure and sacred into numbers and formulas." She explained, with an odd mixture of disgust and pity in her voice. "They have an inability to understand something as simple and complicated as Love, so they turn it into something scientific, that their minds can understand."

"How can something be simple and complicated at the same time?" Fang asked.

The _Sangoma_ turned to him. "You love her, yes?" she said, pointing to me.

Fang nodded.

"That's not complicated or hard to understand, is it?" she asked.

"No."

"But would you call the situation you two are in simple?"

The corner of Fang's mouth twitched, his version of a wry smile. "No."

"You see? Simple and complicated often goes together as one. Scientists can't understand that, it has to be one or the other with them. But everything has an opposite that it needs to balance itself out. Everything is connected." She said to me. "Even complete opposites."

The things that she had said before were starting to make a lot more sense. It was making so much sense now, that I didn't know how I hadn't understood before.

"Max," The _Sangoma_ interrupted my thoughts. "Go out to the back of the house. To the left you will see a small circle of crystals and stones. Take the blue stone and bring it in here. Do not touch any other stone." She instructed.

I headed out, but when Fang was rising to follow me she stopped him.

"Fang, I want you to stay here."

"But-"

"It's okay Fang. I'll be back in a sec." I told him.

I went outside and quickly found the circle of rocks. Picking up the blue one, I headed back inside. But as I reaches the door I heard voices and stopped.

"…is dangerous for her." The _Sangoma_ was saying in a calm voice.

"What do you mean?" Fang asked.

"What I mean is, because of your connection, you're partially real to her. That's why she is able to see and hear you. The longer you are near and communicating with her, the more real you will get, in her mind."

"How is that dangerous?" Fang said quietly.

"It's dangerous because you are not real, Fang. Not any more. And if this continues, Max will slowly lose her ability to distinguish between reality and her thoughts." The _Sangoma_ told him. "Fang, she could lose her mind."

There was a long pause after that. I strained my ears to hear anything at all.

"It is only expected that this would be hard for both of you," she went on sympathetically. "But Fang, you have to learn to say goodbye."

Fang didn't say anything for a moment, and when he replied, it was so soft and quiet I almost didn't hear it.

"What of I'm not ready to say goodbye?"

"Then you will both have to face the consequences." She said, ending the conversation. "Max, you can come back in now." She called to me.

I stepped inside. "I got the rock."

"Good." She said. "That is a turquoise stone. Take it and keep it with you at all times, it will protect you. Take this book as well." She said, handing me the old book. "It should answer any more questions you have." With that, she walked into the other room, leaving me and Fang alone.

"Come on, we better head back." I said to him, putting the turquoise in my pocket, so I could hold the fragile-looking book better.

"Yeah." He said, following me out the door.

But I couldn't help seeing the troubled look on his face. The look he tried to hide from me.

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	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything!**

**Chapter Seventeen**

It was late in the day by the time we got back to Dr. Hans's house. My mom met me at the front door.

"Max, there you are." She said, sounding relieved. "You've been gone a long time. Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I'm fine." I was _really_ getting sick of being asked that.

"Max, I think we need to talk." My mom said gently.

"Can it wait?" I asked. Not waiting for an answer, I went inside and headed to my room.

Halfway down the hall Dr. Hans was waiting for me.

"Max, I'm glad I finally got a hold of you." He said, moving as if to stop me. "I was wondering if-"

"No." I said, pushing passed him and continuing down the hall.

Once I got to the room, I closed the door. Nobody was in there.

"Okay, let's see what's in this book." I said to Fang, who had been by my side the whole time.

I opened the book and looked at the first page.

* * *

"Ugh, I think my head is going to explode." I complained.

"You're exaggerating." Fang commented, lying on the bed beside the one I was sitting cross-legged on.

I had the book in my lap and I was using every bit of will power I had in me not to chuck it at the nearest wall.

"No, I'm not. I've been reading this thing for the past three hours, and we haven't learned anything!"

Fang gave me a look that obviously said _Yes we have_.

"Well yeah," I said. "We learned that I'm what's connecting you to the physical world, and over time that connection will get stronger, making you more real." I summed up.

"To you." Fang added.

"Yes, more real to me." I amended.

That was about all we could understand of the book. The rest sounded like gibberish. It looked like gibberish too.

"You still got that rock?" Fang asked.

"The turquoise? Yeah. But I don't really see the point in it." I said, taking the stone out of my pocket to examine it. "We don't need protecting."

"Keep it with you anyway." Fang said. "Just in case."

"Yeah, I guess." I said, stuffing it back into my pocket.

"Hey, Max." Gazzy said, coming into the room. "Where have you been all day? And who were you talking to, just now?"

I glanced at Fang quickly. He had sat up on the bed when Gazzy had come in, but Gazzy hadn't noticed anything. Should I tell him?

"No one." I said. "I was just talking to myself."

Gazzy came to sit next to me on the bed.

"What's that?" he asked, pointing to the open book on my lap.

"Oh, it's nothing." I said, closing the book. "Just an old book I found. It's useless though."

Gazzy nodded and was quiet for awhile.

"I miss him." He finally said, sounding very young.

I met Fang's gaze over Gazzy's head, and just for a moment, I saw the pain and frustration he was feeling from not being able to talk to the others. Then his eyes were once again unreadable.

I sighed. "Come on, Gazzy." I said, getting up and taking his hand. "Let's go find something to eat."

**Review!!! And also, if you havn't taken my poll, please do. I want a definite answer. If you have any other idea's though, I'd love to hear them! :D**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything!**

**Chapter Eighteen**

The next morning I woke up with the flock surrounding me, all sound asleep. We had managed to comfortably stuff all five of us into a single room.

I propped myself up on my elbow and looked around the room. I saw Fang sitting in a chair in the corner, and smiled at him. In return, the corner of his mouth twitched.

Then I noticed something that made my smile widen.

I got up quickly and motioned to Fang that I wanted to talk in the hallway. I quietly opened the bedroom door and stepped out.

Once the door was closed I turned to Fang.

"Why so happy?" he asked, motioning to the grin that was still plastered to my face.

"Have you realized you look more solid?" I asked.

Fang tilted his head slightly in question.

"You look solid." I explained. "You're not see-through anymore! You're more real!"

Unlike me, Fang was not overjoyed by this information. In fact, he seemed quite dismayed. And, too late, I remembered what the _Sangoma_ had told him.

"That's not a good thing, Max."

"Look, I know it's just me that you're more real to. As long as I keep that in mind, I'll be fine." I assured him.

But Fang didn't look that convinced.

"I wonder if you still can't touch stuff." I said, more to change the subject than anything else.

In answer, Fang put his hand out towards the table that was in the hall. His hand went straight through.

He sighed. "Apparently not."

"So, let me get this straight." I said. "You look more real, but you still can't touch anything? That's just stupid!"

"Max." Fang said.

"No Fang." I continued, starting to pace a little. "Logically, if you _look_ more real, you should _be_ more real."

"Max."

"Therefore, "I went on, not listening to him. "You should be able to _touch_-"

"Max." Fang said again, touching my arm.

I gasped slightly and whipped my head around to stare at his hand, which was gently holding my arm.

And I could feel him.

I could feel his fingers wrapped around my arm. I could feel the gentle pressure he was using.

"Holy crap." I whispered.

Fang was also staring at his hand. He recovered faster than me, and slowly ran his hand down my arm. When he got to my hand, he entwined our fingers.

I looked up at his face to see him gazing at our hands, as if they were the greatest thing in the world.

"Did you know that would happen?" I asked quietly.

"No." he whispered back. "It was just a reflex, to stop you pacing."

He stepped closer, still holding my hand. With his other hand he brushed a piece of hair out of my face.

We were very close now, Fang's arms around me, and my arms around his neck.

He looked so real. He _felt_ real. I found it hard to keep reminding myself that it was all in my head. And I knew that that meant I could lose my mind, but when Fang turned his head to kiss the top of my jaw, I found I didn't care.

Because just then, I was happier then I had been in days.

"Fang." I sighed contentedly, closing my eyes, as he stroked my cheek with his thumb.

The bedroom door opened suddenly to reveal the flock. I jumped away from Fang and tried to put a normal expression on my face.

"Max, what were you dong?" Nudge asked, looking worried.

"Nothing." I said, trying to sound normal, and failing miserably.

"We heard you talking." Gazzy said, also looking worried. In fact, they all looked worried.

"We heard you talking…to Fang." Iggy said slowly.

I couldn't think of anything to say that wouldn't sound stupid or crazy. I was trying not to look at Fang, who was standing rightthere,_ in front of the flock._

"Max, is everything okay?" Nudge asked.

"Everything's fine." I said. I wanted so much to tell them everything, right then. But I saw Fang shake his head out of the corner of my eye, and decided against it. They would never believe me.

Angel hadn't said anything, and was staring at me with a weird expression on her face.

"Are you guy's hungry?" I asked before she could come out with another prophesy of me going bonkers. "Let's go get breakfast!"

And, not waiting to see if they'd follow, I quickly headed down the hall.

But I couldn't help thinking that, maybe, hiding this whole thing from the others wasn't the right thing to do.

Sure, they might not believe me, but I felt I had to try.

Maybe I could pass messages between Fang and the flock. Maybe we could just fly off and live on our own again, and not have to explain the weird situation to anybody. Maybe we could all be happy, and all be together.

And maybe I really _was_ losing my mind, to be thinking of such wacky, impossible things.

**Sorry for not updating in awhile, had a bit of writers block :( But luckily, I have the rest of the story planned out!!! Review!!!!!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything!**

**AN: REALLY REALLY REALLY sorry about the long pause between chapters! Here's my apology!!**

**Chapter Nineteen**

**3rd Person POV:**

Fang sat on the floor beside Max's bed that night. The day had been pretty uneventful…and eventful at the same time.

It was uneventful because no one attacked the flock, no one went missing, and there weren't any strange predictions or warnings.

A pretty quiet day for the flock.

But Fang had learned a lot. He had been watching everyone around the house, and he'd discovered new things about everybody.

He learned that Dr. M's way of dealing with stress was to cook. He now knew that Nudge had a secret album of photos of the flock, at the E-house, in Antarctica, doing work for the CSM.

There was one picture of him and Max at the E-house. It was taken on the roof, with neither of them looking at the camera. Fang was sitting with one knee under him, as if to get up. He was looking over at Max, who was walking towards the edge of the roof.

Fang had immediately remembered the day, and had laughed out loud when he realized that this was the proof he needed to win the argument that Max had jumped off first.

Fang had also learned that Dylan had a tendency to watch Max. A lot. And Fang didn't like it one bit.

It was the _way_ that he watched her that Fang liked least. He wasn't just watching, he was _observing_. Like Max was some experiment to him. Max was, of course, oblivious to Dylan's attention, but Fang suddenly felt very uneasy.

Fang had been thinking all night. He had thought about everything.

He glanced at Max as she slept soundly. The nightmares had stopped completely.

He had promised himself that he would protect Max, but how could he protect her when he was only real to _her_? What if something happened like last time, where Fang was too far away to help?

He couldn't let that happen. Not again. He had to do something, but what?

Then, an idea dawned on him. It was a bit crazy, and he was almost certain it was a waste of time, but he had to try.

Fang stood up quickly and looked down at Max once more. She was still fast asleep.

He would try to be back before she woke up, but knowing the flock's life, nothing was for certain.

* * *

As usual, the door opened before Fang was even close to it.

"Hello, Fang." The _Sangoma_ said, as if ghosts showed up at her door all the time. Heck, maybe they did!

"I wanted to ask you something." Fang said.

"Come in." she said.

Fang followed her inside. She walked around the table and sat down.

"What is it you wish to ask?" she said.

Fang took a deep breathe. He was about to do an uncharacteristic amount of talking. But it was for Max.

"You're a Spirit Contact, right?" Fang began. "So you must know a lot about ghosts. Well, I want to know about Poltergeists. How do they move stuff?"

"Do you wish to be a Poltergeist?" The _Sangoma_ asked, looking up at him with an amused expression.

"No," Fang said. "I want-"

"I know what you want." She interrupted calmly. "The question is, do _you_ know what you want?"

"What do you mean?" Fang asked.

"Do you want to move objects to help you protect your soul mate, or do you think it will make you more real?"

"I want to protect Max." Fang answered. "And I can't if I go _through_ everything."

"Good." The _Sangoma_ said. "Because the ability to move objects will not make you more real, Fang. It will only make you more dangerous."

"So, it is possible?" he asked.

"There are few spirits who have mastered the ability to move things. Mostly because they have no one to teach them." she said, examining the things on the table.

"Will you teach me?" Fang asked at once.

"No, I will not." She said calmly. "I will not, because I _can_not. There are only a handful of people in the world who know how spirits move things. Spirits that wish to find out must first, either find a person, or another spirit who has that knowledge.

Fang groaned in frustration. He had come all this way for nothing. Where was he going to find someone like that?

"Fortunately for you," The _Sangoma _went on, looking up at him again and giving him the first real smile he had seen on her. "My nephew is currently staying with me. And he is everything you need."

She stood up and headed for the door leading to another room, motioning for Fang to follow.

"Let us begin."

* * *

**Max POV:**

I woke up, once again with the flock surrounding me. I looked around, but didn't see Fang in the room. Maybe he was somewhere else in the house.

My stomach rumbled loudly. I got up quietly and went to find something to eat.

I got to the kitchen and scanned the room. Where the heck was Fang?

"Fang." I called quietly, but still, he was a no-show.

Had something happened? Could anything happen to a ghost? Surely not. What more could you do that hadn't already been done?

Now I was starting to get mad. Why the hell had Fang left without telling me? He could have at least waited until I woke up!

"Hey there, Max." Dylan said, coming through the door on the other side of the room that led to the living room.

"Hey." I replied, not really paying him any attention.

"Are you alright?" Dylan asked. "You look kind of angry."

"_I'm_ fine. But the next person to ask me that question won't be."

Dylan looked like he wanted to help, but didn't know what to say.

"Well, you know, if you need someone to talk to or anything…" he trailed off and shrugged slightly.

Maybe I had been too harsh. He was only trying to be nice.

"I just have a lot going on at the moment." I explained to him, my tone a little nicer.

"Maybe you should let a few things go." He said.

His body stance and tone said relaxed, casual. But his words, and the way he held my gaze, had a weird intensity to them that made me want to shrink back.

It was almost like his words had a second meaning to them.

Like he _knew_…

Dylan stepped towards me, and a chill went down my spine.

"Max." he stepped closer. "I like you a lot, Max."

Another step closer.

"There's just something about you."

Closer.

"I can tell that you're unhappy. I know this will sound weird but, it's like I can sense it."

Closer.

"Like we're connected."

I took a cautious step back. He tracked the movement, then returned his gaze to mine with that weird intensity, and took a deliberate step forward.

I needed to move, I needed to get away. I needed to fly.

I looked over Dylan's shoulder at the door to the living room. The front door was just through that room.

I made to walk around him but Dylan blocked me.

"I can make you happy, Max." He said.

He was too close now. I had never been this close to anyone except Fang. Why was he so close?

"I can give you anything you want." He continued.

I was frozen. I couldn't move, couldn't talk. All I could do was stare into his eyes.

"All you have to do is let go." Dylan lifted his hand and stroked my arm.

Suddenly Dylan yelped and jumped back, at the same time I felt a searing heat, both where he had touched me and in my right pocket.

I turned quickly and ran from the room, leaving Dylan staring after me, messaging his burnt hand.

I raced down the hallway until I got to the bathroom, slamming the door shut and locking myself in. I leaned against the door and slid to the ground.

I sat like that for awhile, until I had calmed down. Then I reached into my pocket and pulled out the turquoise stone. It was still warm, but it was no longer scorching hot, like it had been when Dylan had touched my arm.

'_That is a turquoise stone, it will protect you.'_

I remembered the _Sangoma's _words. But I never thought I would need protection against Dylan.

Maybe Dr. Hans, but not Dylan. He had always seemed harmless. Slightly annoying, maybe a bit clueless. But not evil.

It was stupid, because I hadn't been expecting it. I should have, but I hadn't. I had been caught off guard, but I wouldn't let it happen again.

Man, how stupid could I have been! Maybe Dylan was the enemy I _should_ have been watching the whole time, and who I needed to protect the flock from right now.

I sighed and got up off the floor. _Where are you, Fang?_

**Okay guys, the next chapter will be up in less than a week. So, REVIEW!!! Was anyone out of character? Was this a good twist, or a 'she's just ruined the story' twist?**


	20. Chapter 20

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything!**

**Chapter Twenty!!!!!!!**

**3rd Person POV:**

Where was Fang? Fang was currently being yelled at by Darren, nephew of the _Sangoma_, and also another Spirit Contact. It looked like that kind of thing ran in the family.

"What are you doing?" Darren asked Fang impatiently. "What the heck are you doing?"

Fang took a calming breathe and tried to control his temper. He was quickly getting very sick of this.

Fang was currently on his hands and knees in the middle of a room in the _Sangoma's_ house. In front of him, there was a single pebble, no bigger than his fingernail. Fang's goal: move it.

Sounds easy, right? Maybe if you're alive. If you're dead? Not so much.

What made it even worse was Darren. He was uncaring, unpitying, hostile, even a bit malicious. A mental case for sure. He looked in his mid-twenties, with a rough face, hard eyes and black stubble peppering his chin. And it seemed his new favorite pastime was shouting abuse at Fang

"You're trying to move it with your finger." Darren went on. "You can't push it with your finger! You're dead!"

Fang had been attempting to move the small rock for over a half an hour with no luck. He let out a breath and tried again, but his finger went straight through it.

"It's all in your mind." Darren said, tapping the side of his head. He started slowly walking around the room, and Fang knew he was going to start giving out again.

"The problem with you is you still think you're real. You think you're wearing those clothes? You think you're crouched on that floor?"

Darren stopped next to Fang and leaned down over him. "Bull_shit_! You ain't got a body no more, son." He said, as if Fang was a stupid five year old.

"It's all up here now." He said, tapping his head again. "You wanna move something you gotta move it with your mind. You gotta focus!"

"How do I focus?" Fang asked tensely.

"I don't know how you focus." He sneered, kneeling down beside Fang. "You just _focus_!" he said, flicking the rock across the room, making it hit the wall and clatter on the floor.

That wouldn't have been so impressive to Fang if Darren hadn't gotten up and strode to the other side of the room, walking through a corner of the coffee table.

Yup, Darren was a _dead_ Spirit Contact.

Darren picked up the pebble and tossed it on the ground in front of Fang.

"You gotta take all your emotions! All your anger, all your love, all your hate! You gotta push it all down, into the pit of your stomach, and then let it _explode_ out of you."

Fang let out another breathe and closed his eyes. He tried to take all his emotions, he tried to focus. He opened his eyes and flicked the rock.

Nothing.

Darren chuckled lightly. Fang sighed and sat back on his heels. This was a waste of time.

"Don't sweat it, kid." Darren said indifferently. "You're doing this to protect your girl, right? Well, if you couldn't protect her when you were alive, you'll hardly be able to protect her when you're dead, anyway. Am I right? Hey, maybe if she's killed she'll be a better student than yo-"

The pebble flew across the room and hit the window with force.

Darren glanced over at the cracked window, then over at Fang. "Way to go, kid."

It was really just practice after that. Once Fang mastered the pebble, he moved on to a mug, then a chair.

When Fang would fail to move an object Darren would say "From your gut, like I told you. The bigger the object, the more concentration it takes to move it."

After Fang had successfully pushed the table across the room, the _Sangoma_ came into the room.

"You have learned well, Fang. But you must leave now."

Fang noted the grave look on her face.

"What happened?" he asked, his heart sinking.

"Max has bee in need of the turquoise's protection." She said. "And if she needs that protection, she will need yours."

* * *

**Max POV:**

I was heading down the hall, about to enter the flock's room, when I heard voices coming from across the hall. I snuck closer to hear more clearly.

"…doesn't deal with it?" my mom was asking.

"She will deal with it. In her own way." Jeb replied. "And in her own time."

"Jeb, she still thinks he's alive."

"And he very well could be!" Jeb said. "The flock have accomplished much more astounding things than showing up after being missing for a couple weeks."

"That's not the only problem, Jeb." My mom lowered her voice. "I've heard her talking to him. I've passed her in the hall, and heard her mutter things like "shut up, Fang." To herself. This is serious, Jeb."

Jeb was quiet for a moment.

"I still think we should give her a bit more time." He told her.

"I'm going to talk to her." My mom decided.

I quickly ducked into the flock's room before they noticed me. The only one in there was Angel.

"Hey, sweetie." I said.

"Max, I wanted to talk to you." She said, hopping off the bed.

"Doesn't everyone." I muttered to myself. "What is it?"

"I, well, I…" Angel took a deep breathe. "I want you to tell Fang I miss him." She blurted out, looking close to tears.

I stared at her, at a loss for words.

What was she talking about? Did she know? Or was this some way of hinting that _I_ was going to die soon?

"Angel." I said slowly. "What are you…"

"Is he here now?" she asked, looking around the room.

I felt really excited and wary at the same time. I stepped forwards and knelt in front of her.

"Angel, tell me exactly what you're about." I said.

"I know he's not gone." She said, speaking very fast. "I can see him, kind of, and hear him, but it's like he's whispering. I want to see him now. Where is he?"

"Oh my God." I breathed. "How can you see him?" I asked myself more than her.

This wasn't possible. The _Sangoma_ said he was only real to _me_. Angel shouldn't be able to sense him at all.

"Max." my mom said, opening the door and stepping in. "I need to talk to you."

"Can it wait?" I asked.

"No, it can't. This is important, Max."

"Ugh." I groaned. I turned back to Angel. "I want to talk to you later." I told her quickly.

She nodded and I left the room, following my mom to he kitchen.

* * *

**3rd Person POV**

Fang made it back to the house quickly and started searching for Max. He passed the flock, who didn't seem in danger. He passed Jeb, typing on his laptop.

Then he passed Dr. Hans and Dylan. They were deep in conversation about something. Fang quickly dismissed them, ready to continue looking for Max, until their next words caught his attention.

"…of paranormal activity in this house." Dr. Hans was saying. "And it's been increasing everyday. No doubt Fang's been gaining strength."

"So, Fang's a ghost now? For real?" Dylan asked, sceptical.

"I'm positive. But don't fear. I've already got something in place to make sure Fang can't get in the way."

"What about the flock?"

"The flock will co-operate, or they'll soon be joining Fang."

"And Max?" Dylan asked.

"Don't worry about Max." Dr. Hans told him. "Once the plan is in motion, go after her. Inject this into her, you know what it does. Leave the rest to me."

Dr. Hans handed Dylan a syringe full of blue liquid.

"When will the plan be set into motion?" Dylan asked.

"Now."

**Okay, guys, what's with the lack of reviews? I want to get an idea of just how many people are reading this, so please review!**

**Also, if you haven't taken my poll on what the next story should be, please do that too. Thanks!!!**


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything!**

**Chapter Twenty One**

My mom sat down at the table and motioned for me to do the same.

"Max," She began. "I want to talk to you about Fang." She paused, waiting for my reaction. When I didn't give any she continued.

"I'm worried about you. And I think it's time for you to start…moving on." She said gently.

I started to protest, but she held up her hand.

"Hear me out Max. It's been weeks since he went missing. You have to accept the fact that Fang might not…come back."

How could I make her see that I was fine? How could I make her understand?

"I know that you don't want to, and that it'll be hard," She went on. "But it's the only way you'll begin to grieve. The only way you'll be able to let go."

Hearing those words again filled me with an odd determination. Or maybe it was stupidity. But whatever it was decided what I said next.

"I don't have to let go mom, because Fang isn't gone."

"I know that's what you want to-"

"No, mom. Fang died, but he's still around. I can see him and talk to him." I paused. "Do you believe in ghosts?" I asked her.

My mom stared at me for a long time.

"Max," she finally spoke softly. "Maybe there's someone in the refuge that you can talk to about this."

Oh, crap.

"No mom, listen. Fang is-"

"Max, please." She pleaded. "Fang isn't here." She sounded like she was desperately trying to convince me.

"Well, he's not here _right now_, but-"

Suddenly, the bird boy in question appeared at my side.

"Where have you been?" I blurted out to him.

"Max?" My mom asked nervously, seeing as I was apparently talking to myself again.

"Get everyone out of the house, _now_." Fang told me.

I didn't question him. I simply jumped up and headed to find the flock.

"Go get Jeb." I instructed my mom, walking out the door. "Explain." I said to Fang.

"Hans and Dylan are evil. They're coming after all of you." Fang explained as we hurried down the hall.

"Big surprise." I said sarcastically, and burst into the flock's room. Luckily they were all there.

"Time to go." I said, and they knew by the sound of my voice that there was trouble.

They all jumped to their feet, forgetting about whatever they had been doing, and grabbed they're packs. I took a few seconds to feel extremely proud of them.

"What's going on?" Iggy asked as I led them down the hall.

"The good doctor and his trusty side-kick are out to get us." I explained quickly. "We have to get out of the house and as far away from them as possible."

We were almost at Jeb's room when Jeb came out into the hall.

"Max," He said, seeing me. "What's going on?"

My mom came into the hall after him.

"We have to leave, now." I told them urgently.

"Max, please." My mom said. "Can we just sit down and talk about this?"

Iggy tilted his head and looked down the hall. "Someone's coming." He said to me.

"There's no time" I told my mom. "We have to _leave_."

I glanced at the flock. They were tense, readying themselves for a fight. All except for Angel.

She was staring at the place Fang was standing, with a small, tentative smile in her face.

I made a decision right then. I had had enough. Enough secrets, enough hiding. It was time the whole flock was on the same page.

"Look mom, I know you don't believe me but," I turned to the flock, talking fast. "Fang isn't gone. He's a spirit. A ghost. I can see him and talk to him. Angel can see him too, kinda. He's the one who told me that Hans and Dylan are up to something. And that's why we have to leave, _now!_"

There was a second of silence that seemed to drag on for decades.

"Max, you do realize how impossible that sounds?" Iggy asked, but I could tell there was a part of him that wanted to believe it.

"So what? Our lives are full of impossible things! We defy gravity on a daily basis!"

The urge I felt to get the heck out if there was fighting against my need for them to believe me. I was getting more and more wound up.

The longer we stood there, the harder it would to get out. I was imagining enemies circling the house, cutting off out exits one by one.

I glanced at Fang. He had been watching the flock, gauging their reactions.

Angel was smiling, and nodded at me approvingly. Gazzy and Iggy looked sceptical, weighing the likelihood of me either telling the truth, or me losing my mind. My mom and Jeb were looking at me with worry plain on their faces, although I could see in Jeb's eyes, he was contemplating the possibilities.

Only Nudge completely believed me. She was staring at me with shock, hope, excitement, and complete and utter trust.

"It's true." Angel said to them. "Fang's standing with us right now. I can see his outline." She waved her hand in Fang's direction, tracing a general shape of a person's outline in the air.

I heard someone coming down the hall, and turned to see Dylan walking hurriedly towards us. I felt Fang go completely rigid beside me.

"I'm glad I found all of you." Dylan said, getting closer.

I motioned for the others to start backing away, without Dylan noticing.

"Something's happened." He continued. "Come with me and we'll find Dr. Hans-"

"We're not going anywhere with you." I said, narrowing my eyes. "Actually we were just leaving."

Dylan's eyes widened in mock alarm. "You can't leave. It's too dangerous! You don't understand."

I was backing away more quickly now, about to make a sarcastic retort, when Dylan lunged.

He moved quickly, too quickly for anyone to react. He grabbed me and pinned me against the wall. He quickly drew a needle out of his pocket, filled with blue liquid, and brought it to my arm.

I wanted to fight back, I tried to. But Dylan was looking at me like he had before, with that strange intensity, and just like last time, I froze.

I was aware of the flock rushing towards us, and one of them calling my name. I felt the prick of the needle on my arm. I felt like there was a fist clutching my heart, and I heard my blood rushing in my ears.

Then Dylan was gone from in front of me. Fang had grabbed Dylan, literally _grabbed_ his shoulders, and threw him into the opposite wall in the hallway.

I unfroze and saw the syringe, still full of blue liquid, clatter to the floor.

"What the hell?" Gazzy asked, looking dumbfounded. Seeing as he had just witnessed, what appeared to have been, Dylan flinging _himself_ into a brick wall.

"Let's go already." Fang shouted, grabbing my arm and pulling me along as he sprinted down the hall, everyone quickly following us.

"What the hell was that?" I shouted at Fang, looking behind us to see Dylan slowly picking himself off the ground, a few cracks in the wall where he had hit it.

"What was what?" Fang asked. He let go of my arm, assured that I would continue running on my own.

"Grabbing Dylan. Since when are you able to do that?" I huffed.

Fang glanced sideways and grinned at me. "Took another visit to the _Sangoma_. Learned a few things."

"You're gonna explain that better when this is over." I told him.

We reached the front door and burst outside. It was late in the day, and the sun was just beginning to set.

"Where do we go?" Gazzy asked, still running a bit behind me.

I slowed a bit and glance back at Dr. Hans's house. There was no sign of pursuit, but I doubted that would last long.

"How about we just keep on running and focus on getting away from the evil psychopaths?" Iggy offered. "That strategy usually works."

"We can't just run off into the desert with no supplies." Jeb voiced logically. "We won't last long if we do."

I slowed even more until I stopped. I felt like I had gallons of adrenaline in me, and not half enough food, making me feel slightly shaky.

"But nowhere in the refuge is safe." I said. "Not when Dr. Hans can bribe everyone to give him whatever, or _who_ever, he wants. We can't trust anyone here." The thought made me feel even more twitchy, and trapped.

"Not completely." Fang said.

I looked at him. "What do you mean?"

I saw my mom cast a worried glance at me, and then looked at Jeb, as if to say _'See, she's talking to air again.'_ I ignored her.

"I doubt the _Sangoma_ has much use for money." Fang said, thinking it over. "It's worth a shot."

I looked around, thinking it through. There was no one else we could even relatively trust. No other somewhat safe option. "Good idea."

**On the off chance that anyone actually reads these little things on the bottom (I know I don't :P), I am extremely sorry for the ridiculous amount of time between updates.**

**The next chapter should be up soon (I know I always say that).**

**Please review and tell me if anyone was out of character or if the plot sucks, you know, the usual. :)**


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything!**

**Chapter Twenty Two**

**IMPORTANT!- If you haven't taken the poll concerning my next story, please do. Right now, it says you want a Maximum Ride/Harry Potter crossover. If you don't like that then VOTE! :D**

We ran most of the way to the _Sangoma's_ house. I had to keep in mind to keep it at a jog, seeing as my mom and Jeb wouldn't be able to keep up if the flock started sprinting.

Coming up to the _Sangoma's_ house we slowed to a walk, allowing everyone to catch their breath. As we got closer I kept my eyes on the door, but we got just outside the door and it still hadn't opened.

A pang of apprehension went through me. Every time I had come here the _Sangoma_ had known, and greeted me at the door. Why hadn't she this time?

Had something happened? Had Dr. Hans been here?

We had paused, unsure of whether to knock or just wait, but as these thoughts went through me I decided I couldn't wait.

I barged up to the door and burst in. But what was on the other side was honestly the last thing I was expecting.

My mouth fell open and a hundred questions went through my mind. The flock came up behind me and peeked in over my shoulder.

"Whoa." Gazzy breathed, staring in.

Because on the simple wooden table in the middle of the room, was enough food to feed…well, the flock.

There were mountains of food covering every inch of the table. And then the smells hit me. The beautiful aroma's of different dishes that had my mouth watering.

I quickly closed my mouth to stop from drooling. I stepped into the house and glanced at the _Sangoma_ who was at the small oven on the other side of the room.

She turned to face us, holding another dish of food. "I figured you would all be hungry." She said.

* * *

"How do you always know when we're coming?" I asked the _Sangoma_ between mouthfuls of food.

The _Sangoma_ walked back over to the table we were all sitting around, eating. She set down another bowl of food, which Nudge quickly pulled toward her and started devouring. The _Sangoma_ sat down and turned toward me.

"Part of it is lucky guesses, but people do tend to be predictable. Over time I have become very good at judging what someone will do, and how others will react." She explained.

"But how did you know that Hans was after us?"

Her face darkened. "I know of Dr. Hans, I know his history." She said. "I've met him on a few occasions, and I could tell he was a dangerous man. When I got news that he had requested a meeting with you, I knew it was only a matter of time before the only safe place in the refuge for you, was here."

I was about to ask when she had met Dr. Hans before, when I noticed a shimmer in the air out of the corner of my eye. An outline of a man. But…Fang was on the other side of the room.

I jumped up and stared at the space where I had seen the shimmer, but nothing was there. I looked around in confusion.

"That's just Darren," Fang explained, leaning against the wall. "The _Sangoma's_ nephew."

"Hello Max." I heard a quiet voice say, coming from the area where I saw Darren. If I focused I could just make out a see-through young man, kind of like Fang had looked when I had first seen him as a ghost.

I looked from Darren to Fang to Darren, then to the _Sangoma_, who was watching me with amusement.

"Max, is everything alright?" my mom asked. The whole flock had stopped eating when I had jumped up, going on red alert. All except for Angel.

"Don't worry." She said, continuing to eat. "Max just saw another ghost and freaked out a bit."

The flock gave me uncertain looks and slowly went back to eating, but my mom was still watching me.

"I'm fine mom, don't worry." I smiled tensely, sitting down again.

_That didn't help, you know._ I thought to Angel.

She gave me a sheepish, apologetic smile in return.

* * *

That night everyone was spaced out throughout the room, tired after the days events. I walked over to Jeb, who was on his laptop, which he had luckily had with him when we ran from Dr. Hans's house.

"What are you doing?" I asked, sitting down next to him and peering at the screen.

"I'm trying to get hold of the CSM, or let someone we trust know what's happened. But I can't get through to anything." He said, rubbing his face.

I frowned. "Can't you just hack into something and get us plane tickets home?"

"I could, but I'd rather not. It would draw the wrong kind of attention to us." Jeb told me.

I watched him as he continued typing. "You know," I said. "I kinda liked it better when you got things done the illegal way."

Jeb paused and turned back to me. "What?"

"It's just, back when you did things illegally, it happened a lot faster. And things were a bit more exciting. Now that you're following all the rules, you're kind of…" I paused, looking for the right word. "…boring."

Jeb chuckled and shook his head. "I guess I'm getting old." He muttered with a wry smile. "I'll see what I can do to make myself less dull, how's that?"

"That would be great." I said, grinning at him, and he smiled back.

I was suddenly afraid we were having one of those Father-Daughter moments, so I abruptly turned away from him and walked over to the _Sangoma_, sitting across the room. I sat down in the seat naxt to hers. "I have a couple questions."

"Only a couple?" she asked me.

"Why can I see Darren?" I asked, glancing over at the dark haired man sitting in an unoccupied chair, watching the people around him.

"And why can angel see Fang?" I continued. "I thought that with the connection between me and Fang that she wouldn't-"

The _Sangoma_ raised her hand to quieten me. "I'm not sure, but perhaps you can see Darren because you have been around another ghost -Fang- and that makes it easier for you to sense other ghosts."

"What about Angel seeing Fang?" I persisted.

"Perhaps with Angels unusual psychic abilities she is able to sense spirits as well." The _Sangoma_ offered.

"But you're not sure?"

"The only truth in this world is that no truth is obsolete. There is always another possibility." She told me.

Nudge looked up from the crossword she was doing on the table. "What's a 10 letter word, starting with 'O', that means 'Reduce to nothing'?" she asked the room in general.

Seeing as the flock couldn't spell worth crap, the chances of her getting the right answer out of them were slim to none. And I could see an argument coming along.

"Obliterate." Darren said, sounding bored.

"I don't have a clue." Gazzy said.

"It could be Oanapre, Obconic, Obcompressed-" Iggy started throwing out any big 'O' word he could think of.

"You're just making up words!" Gazzy accused him after a minute.

"No I'm not!" Iggy defended himself.

"None of those words had 10 letters, even if they were real." Nudge commented.

"Fine," Iggy said. "What about 'Leucippus'? That has ten letters, right?"

"Nope, 9." Angel corrected. "And it doesn't start with 'O'."

"What does 'Leucippus' even mean?" Gazzy asked.

Iggy paused. "I don't know."

"That's stupid. Why would you offer a word if you don't even know what it means?" Nudge asked incredulously.

"Would someone please tell them the answer is Obliterate!" Darren shouted over their bickering.

"The answer is Obliterate." I said, cutting off the argument.

"Thank you!" Darren said. "The problems of being invisible." He grumbled.

Nudge looked down at the crossword. "It fits! Wow Max, how did you know that?"

"A ghost told me." I muttered, rubbing my forehead.

Mom came out of the bedroom where we would all be sleeping tonight and came over to me.

"I'm sorry Max, but I've had enough. Tell me exactly what's been going on." She said, looking very stressed.

The whole flock became quiet and looked at me. No doubt they had been wanting to ask that same question.

So I took a deep breathe, and I told them. I told them everything that had happened since Fang had gone missing. The dreams, talking to Fang, thinking I was going crazy, Dylan and the turquoise stone. Everything.

"I'm sorry, Max," my mom said when I was finished. "But I'm having trouble believing all this."

"I believe it." Gazzy said simply.

"Yeah, stuff is kind of making sense now." Iggy said. "In a weird sort of way."

I couldn't help but smile. The fact that my flock believed me made my heart feel ready to burst.

"It could be possible." Jeb said slowly. "There's no scientific proof to say that ghosts don't exist. And the imprint between you two was very strong."

Is _very strong_. I corrected in my head.

"I don't want to hear any talk of science." The _Sangoma_ said to Jeb, as if telling a child to watch their potty mouth.

Jeb looked slightly surprised, but thankfully dropped the subject.

My mom sighed and looked at me. "I'll need more time to wrap my head around all of this."

"That's okay." I said, and then I got an idea. "I can give you proof."

I turned to Fang "You can move things now, can't you?"

Fang raised his eyebrow, as if to say, _Are you serious?_

But none the less, he leaned over and picked up a mug that was on the table.

There was an audible gasp as everyone stared wide eyed at the floating mug.

"Awesome." Gazzy breathed.

Nudge explained to Iggy what happened, and his eyebrows shot up.

Fang set the mug down again, looking slightly proud of himself.

"Well, I think that's enough excitement for one day." I said, breaking the silence that had followed. "How about we get some sleep?"

"That's a good idea." My mom said, still looking very surprised.

Jeb stood up. "I was able to get plane tickets back to the U.S. The plane leaves tomorrow night. The airports about half an hour drive from here."

I couldn't help but smile. "And of course, you acquired these tickets like the law abiding citizen you are?" I asked innocently.

Jeb held back a smile of his own. "Lets just say, the way I got them wasn't technically illegal, but I would rather the authorities didn't look into it."

My grin widened. "Okay guys, we'll rest up, and tomorrow we'll get back home, to good old America. It'll be harder for Hans to find us there at least."

Everyone headed off to bed. I turned to the _Sangoma_ to ask one more question.

"What is Dr. Hans planning?" I asked quietly.

She looked me in the eye and gave me a heavy look. "From what I know of Dr. Hans's strategy, he has something planned for each of you. But he is too powerful and unpredictable to know exactly what that is."

I nodded and turned to leave. I was almost at the bedroom door when she spoke again.

"I do know this, Max."

I turned back and looked at her expectantly.

"Getting home will not be as easy as it will appear to be."

**Yay! Okay, this was kind of a filler chapter, and to just sum up stuff that have happened so far. So tell me what you think. **

**And also, I got an idea, but I'm not sure if I'm gonna use it so I want your opinions. Should the _Sangoma_ be the Voice?**

**REVIEW!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything!**

**Chapter Twenty Three**

The Safari jeep bounced against the uneven dirt road. All of us were squashed into the jeep, because _apparently_ "Flying is too dangerous in this situation." Thanks Jeb. Thanks a lot.

No one had slept well the night before, and the day had been spent jumping at every little noise, with the whole flock ready for Dr. Hans to show up with a giant army to capture us. Which didn't happen.

So you could understand how the flock were just a teensy bit stressed out.

As the sun had begun to set, we had said our goodbyes to the _Sangoma_, squeezed into the jeep and were on our merry little way, in our merry little jeep. Emphasis on _little_.

"Iggy!" Gazzy shouted angrily. "You're stepping on my foot!"

"Your elbow is digging into my ribs!" he shot back.

"Well, Angel's elbow is digging into my ribs." Nudge argued.

"That wouldn't be a problem if you weren't squashing me against the window!" Angel complained.

"Children." my mom cut in. "We're almost at the airport. Please be patient."

We pulled up outside the airport and toppled out of the jeep. Going through the airport, we went through three security checks. The first two, Jeb showed them a card without saying a word, and they waved us through without giving us another glance.

But at the third one, Jeb showed his card. The man looked at it, then at Jeb, then over Jeb's shoulder at all of us. I tensed up.

"Sir, can we take you to the side for a moment to ask a few questions." The security man said.

Without breaking eye contact with the guard, out of the corner of his mouth Jeb whispered, "Angel."

Angel looked at the man, who immediately got a dazed look on his face.

"Actually," the guard said. "Never mind, my mistake. Carry on." And he waved us through.

I could see the plane now. It was just outside the door in front of us, with a big 'U.S.A.' banner on the side of it.

I felt everyone relax around me, releasing the tension that had been building since morning. Everyone was relieved to be heading home. Well, except one.

I looked sideways at Fang, who was still radiating tension. He was glancing around, sweeping the area for potential threats.

"I want a window seat!" Gazzy yelled, running ahead.

I suddenly remembered the _Sangoma's_ words from last night. _Getting home will not be as easy as it will appear to be._

A shot of panic went through me.

"Gazzy!" I yelled, running after him. The flock tensed and quickly followed.

Gazzy stopped just before opening the door that led outside to the plane. He glanced around, and then looked back at me with a confused expression, not understanding my sudden panic.

We all reached him and paused, the flock looking at me quizzically.

"What is it Max?" Nudge asked.

"This is too easy." I muttered, doing a 360.

"Max, I assure you, the plane is safe." Jeb told me. "I checked and rechecked."

I tried to slow my pulse. There was no sign of danger from any direction. Just a normal airport.

And I didn't know whether that should make me feel better, or make me more suspicious.

"Don't let you guard down." I told everyone. "The first sign of trouble and we're out of here, got it?"

"Got it." Everyone replied, and we headed for the plane.

Approaching the small plane I felt more and more sick. I felt like we were walking straight towards a tornado, we just couldn't feel the wind yet.

I was the first one on the plane, Iggy right behind me. As we walked towards our seats I scanned the inside. It was about half full, maybe around twenty other passengers.

Then I felt my blood go cold. There were maybe two or three, all serious and strict looking. And the rest were all men. Big, muscled men. The stereotypical Security/body guard, minus the uniform. And every one of them was discreetly watching us. It took every ounce of self control to not freeze and give us away.

"Bandana. See-chasse." I whispered, so only Iggy would hear me.

But it was too late. The nearest thug jumped up and grabbed me, holding me in a vice-like grip. The other thugs swarmed around us, punching and trying to grab the flock.

Fang hit the guy holding me. He let go of me, staggered back, and fell over his seat. The fight wasn't looking good though. The flock was outnumbered, and these things definitely weren't human.

I saw one of the thugs grab my mom, and another grab Jeb. I moved towards them to help, jumping over a plane seat. But no sooner had I landed, I was grabbed by yet another thug, who threw me over his shoulder and burst through the Emergency Exit, followed by the other two holding Jeb and my mom.

Just before I lost sight of the fight I saw Fang leaping towards me.

"Stay with the flock!" I shouted at him, hoping he would hear me above the roar of the fight. And hoping even more that he would listen.

**Okay, short chapter, I know. BUT the next chapter is completely written, so if I get lots and lots of reviews, I'll give it to you tomorrow.**

** If not...then I'm holding it hostage! Mwahahahahaha!**

**REVIEW!**

**(Oh and if anyone is wondering there are about...*thinking*...five chapters or less left in the story...probably less) :(**


	24. Chapter 24

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything!**

**Chapter Twenty Four**

**Fangs POV:**

Stay with the flock. Stay with the flock, she said.

How could Fang stay with the flock? How could he, when Max was being carried off to God knows where, to have God knows what done to her.

But just as he was about to follow, Fang heard Angel cry out. He turned quickly to see one of those thugs twisting her arm behind her back.

Fang ran forward, chopped down on its arm and did a round-house kick, sending it flying. Fang then grabbed Angel's shoulders and pushed her towards the Emergency Exit. He knew that they couldn't win this fight, so he had to get the flock out of here.

Angel looked alarmed for a split second, until she realized it was Fang. She looked up at him and got the message.

"Guys!" she yelled. "Gonanza!"

The flock detangled themselves from the fight and sprang for the exit, doing an immediate up and away. Luckily, the thugs didn't seem to have wings, so the flock left them shouting and stomping on the ground below, as they rose into the darkening sky.

"What are we going to do?" Gazzy asked, looking between the others with big, scared eyes. "They have _Max_!"

"And Max's mom, and Jeb." Nudge added.

Fang looked down and noticed something that made him feel an odd mixture of rage and hope.

"Angel." He said, and she whipped her head around to look at him, apparently able to hear him.

He motioned down, and she looked. Her eyes widened, obviously getting the same idea.

"Guys, look!" she said urgently, pointing down.

With the flocks keen night vision they were able to make out a figure getting out of a jeep that had just pulled up.

"It's Dylan." Nudge said.

"He'll lead us straight to Max." Iggy caught on. "And maybe Dr. M and Jeb."

"We just have to make sure that he doesn't catch on that we're following him." Gazzy pointed out as they watched Dylan make his way across the runway, towards one of the air hangers where planes were kept.

"That would be bad." Iggy agreed.

"If anything goes wrong, we have Fang." Angel said, with a hint of comfort in her voice.

"Didn't he go with Max?" Nudge asked, looking around, as if trying to see him.

Angel shook her head. "Max told him to stay."

"Let's go, before we lose him." Gazzy said, keeping is eyes trained on Dylan.

* * *

The flock followed Dylan into a huge building, staying quiet and keeping a good distance behind him. They followed him down a long, lit corridor, making them vulnerable and easy to see. But Dylan didn't turn around, just continued to hurry down the hall, until finally turning into a room.

The flock hurried to follow him, afraid they would lose him. Nudge peeked around the door into the room.

"He's not there." She whispered to the others. "The room's empty."

The flock entered the room and looked around. The room was big and empty, with a thick layer of dust covering the floor. The wall opposite the door had big windows running the entire length of the room, which were also covered in dust, blurring the night sky outside.

There was a creak behind the flock, and they spun to see a group of Thugs. They sprang at the flock, grabbing each of them and twisting their arms behind their backs. Nudge cried out as her capture hit her across the face to stop her struggling.

Fang was about to spring at the Thug, when Dylan dropped from the rafters he had been perched on, high above them.

Gazzy grimaced. They should have thought to look up. He did have _wings,_ after all. It was exactly the place the flock would have used for an ambush.

Dylan chuckled. "So, the infamous flock falls for the oldest trick in the book."

Angel glanced at Fang, shaking her head the tiniest bit. Fang nodded, understanding. Wait. Don't make a move yet. Maybe they could learn something.

"I'm assuming Fang is with Max. Of course he is, where else would he be?" Dylan answered himself, standing in front of the flock. The Thugs pushed and dragged them until they were in a line.

"He doesn't really care about you guys, you know. He only cares about Max." Dylan spoke to the flock. "You're not that important anyway."

Iggy groaned. "Is this where you attempt to bore us to death by telling us how ingenious your plan is?"

Dylan glared at him, but continued as of he hadn't heard a thing. "Originally, you weren't even in the plan. But Dr. Hans has some experiments that he says you would be perfect for."

"Sound familiar?" Gazzy muttered to the others, so Dylan wouldn't hear.

"But Fang," Dylan's face suddenly became hard. "he was just in the way. _I_ was _made_ for Max. Fang was just a bit of unplanned competition." Dylan relaxed and shrugged. "So I got rid of him."

The flocks wary faces turned to death glares.

"You killed him!" Nudge spat, unusually aggressive.

"It was easy enough." Dylan explained indifferently. "Dr. Hans got a hold of some left over robots from the Schools downfall, tweaked them a bit, made them better."

A gloating look came on Dylan's face. "And Dr. Hans had this fantastic idea, to turn Fang's protectiveness over Max into an asset for us." Dylan's tone changed to one of mock sympathy. "Max would feel so guilty, and _I_ would be there to comfort her, tell her it wasn't her fault, that everything would be fine."

"But it didn't happen like that, did it?" Angel said, still glaring.

Dylan's face darkened. "No, it didn't. Turns out my dear Max is more stubborn than Dr. Hans anticipated." Dylan smirked. "So he invented this."

Dylan pulled out the syringe with the blue liquid.

"And now you're going to tell us what it does, right?" Iggy said sarcastically.

"I suppose you could call it a love potion." Dylan mused, looking down at the syringe. "Almost like magic. Almost, but not quite. There's a bit of science thrown in, of course."

Dylan looked back at the flock. "Times are changing, kids. We can now mix science and magic together. The two great opposites of the world. The explained, and the unexplained. The probable, and the improbable. And when that's done, you come up with…unimaginable things."

"I personally think you've watched one too many movies." Gazzy said. "But I'll bite. What does the blue stuff do?

"Basically, when this is injected into Max, she'll fall in love with whoever she has the most contact with." Dylan smirked. "Which will be me."

Nudge shook her head. "That's not going to work. Fang won't allow it to."

"Fang." Dylan sneered, as if it left a bad taste in his mouth. He looked out the window at the night sky. There were no lights on in the room, but the moon was bright, and shone in through the window's dust.

Dylan snorted and turned back to the flock. "You would think that after Fang died, he would stay gone, wouldn't you? But _no_, not the Mysterious Fang. He had to come back as a _freaking_ _ghost_! He had to learn how to _move_ things!"

Dylan took a deep breathe to calm himself. "But I'm not worried. By the time I use this potion on Max, Fang will be taken care of."

Iggy snorted. "What are you gonna do? Hit him with your Ouija Board?"

"Have any of you ever heard of an exorcism?" Dylan asked quietly, ignoring Iggy.

Gazzy furrowed his brow. "Isn't that what they do on people who are possessed?"

"Yes. That's what many exorcisms are performed for." Dylan explained. "Basically, an exorcism rips the spirit out of the possessed person. But don't you ever wonder why the spirit doesn't just possess someone else?"

"Well, maybe their feelings are hurt." Nudge said. "The ripping part doesn't sound like a very hospitable thing to do."

"It's not." Dylan sneered. "I hear it's agonizingly painful for the ghost. But it doesn't just rip them out of a person. It rips them out of this _dimension_."

Dylan laughed at the flock horrified expressions. "Bye-bye Fangy." He mocked in a sing-song voice.

Fang had had about enough of this particular wiener, and he had just gotten a brilliant idea, if he did say so himself.

He walked up to Dylan, reached out, and lightly tugged on Dylan's sleeve.

Dylan paused and jerked his arm back, but Fang had already walked silently around him, and tugged on his other sleeve.

"Wha-!" Dylan spun around, his arms flailing, trying to hit whatever was near him. But everyone knows you can't hit a ghost. His arms just passed through Fang.

Fang tugged twice more, making Dylan spin around again, eyes wide. As Dylan stepped back, Fang stuck out his leg, and Dylan stumbled, falling on his butt, landing with an "Oomph!"

By now the flock was laughing so hard, they had to be supported by their captures. Dylan jumped up looked around wildly. But Fang had gotten another idea, and was already by the window. Concentrating hard, he began to run his finger through the dust.

"Look!" Angel exclaimed, nodding to the window, after recovering from her laughing fit. Everyone looked.

Fang heard Dylan turn, and then there was dead silence in the room. The only sound was of Dylan's breathing, as it slowly got louder and more ragged, as the meaning of what he was seeing sunk in.

Fang stepped back to admire his work, and turned to see satisfied smiles on the flock. Everyone was watching as Dylan stared, terrified, at Fang's message, short and simple.

**I'll get you, before you get me.**

The guards were all staring dumbfounded at the window. Fang took the opportunity to punch, hit and kick every one of them, effectively freeing the flock.

Dylan recovered from his fear and shouted, "Don't let them escape! Dr. Hans needs them!"

The guards lunged for the flock again.

"Go!" Fang shouted, giving a Thug a round-house kick before it was able to recapture Nudge. Angel moved towards the door, but seemed reluctant to leave Fang.

"Go!" he shouted again. "Find Jeb and Dr. M! I'll get Max."

Iggy grabbed Angels hand and dragged her behind him as the flock ran out the door and down the hall.

Fang turned to Dylan, who was shouting orders at the Thugs. Fang had one more thing to do before finding Max. He aimed for Dylan's elbow and did another round-house kick, hitting his target.

There was a sickening crack as the bone in Dylan's arm snapped. He cried out and staggered sideways, letting go of the syringe he had been holding.

As if in slow motion, the syringe flew up, twisting in the air, and crashed to the ground. It cracked, sending glass and blue liquid splattering across the floor.

Dylan screamed in rage, holding his broken arm. But Fang was already out the door, focusing on Max.

**Yay! Another Chapter. This was basically bringing everything together and answering a bunch of questions. Was it too boring? Was Dylan too evil?**

**REVIEW! **

**(And I'm going to start working on my next story soon, which will probably be a Maximum Ride/Harry Potter crossover-unless someone else does the poll and it changes)**


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything!**

**Chapter Twenty Five**

Being tied up sucks.

I tried to wiggle my fingers, tried to loosen the ropes around my wrists, to get the circulation to my hands flowing again. But no luck.

I was sitting in a chair, with my arms tied behind the back of it. The typical hostage position. The chair was placed in an empty airplane hanger, a room big enough to store at least three planes.

My hands began to go numb, reminding me of my sucky situation. I didn't know where my flock was, which sucked. I didn't know where my mom or Jeb was, which sucked. I was all alone, with no clue where in the airport I was, and I had already tried loosening the ropes holding me, and hadn't gotten anywhere, which -you guessed it- sucked!

And to top it all off, a bit in front of me, in the center of the airplane hanger, was a circle of unlit candles. This, of course, raised a whole heap of questions.

In the middle of the circle of candles was a picture frame, but it was propped up to face away from me, so I couldn't see if there was any picture in it.

I began to get pins and needles up my arms. I sighed. I could only think of one thing to do now, and I was really dreading it.

_I can't believe I'm about to do this._ I thought to myself, and took a deep breathe. _Voice? You there?_ I mentally called.

**I'm always here, Maximum.**

_Well, you think you could make yourself useful and finally give me some help?_

**But I have been helping you, Max.** It said.

_What!_ I thought, outraged. _I haven't heard from you in weeks!_

**Haven't you?**

Ugh! _Enough fortune cookie crap! Are you going to help me or not?_

There was a long silence, as if the Voice was thinking it through. But after a few more moments I sighed, accepting that I wasn't going to get an answer.

**I will.** It finally replied.

_Great! So, what do I do?_ I asked.

Silence.

Oh, that's just great. Tell me you're going to help me, then go on mute mode. Thanks for that.

I heard a door open and close behind me, and then footsteps. I twisted to see Dr. Hans walking towards me.

"Good evening Max!" He exclaimed, cheery as ever. He came to stand in front of me, with his back to the circle of candles. I narrowed my eyes at him, but said nothing.

"I've been wanting to talk to you, Max. And I have a few questions, if you wouldn't mind answering them." He beamed at me.

"I have a few questions of my own. For one," I motioned behind him. "What's _that_?"

Dr. Hans glanced behind him at the candles.

"Oh." He waved his hand dismissively. "That's just for Fang."

I tensed up. I didn't know exactly what a circle of candles and a picture frame could do to a ghost, but I knew anything that Dr. Hans had for Fang wasn't good.

"Now, Max. I wanted to talk to you about your options here. I'm willing to offer you-"

"Yo." Fang suddenly materialized behind me. I jumped slightly in surprise, but luckily, Dr. Hans didn't notice, and kept on talking.

Fang showed me a sharp piece of glass he was holding. He smirked at me, then began to saw at the rope holding my wrists.

Dr. Hans was prattling on, not even looking at me as he slowly paced in front of me. I drowned out his pompous voice, only catching a word here and there. But I got the gist of it.

"Blah blah blah team up, blah blah blah unlimited power."

Same old crap, as usual. I focused on Fang, who continued to cut at my restraints.

Suddenly, the door Dr. Hans had come through burst open, revealing a very pissed looking Dylan. I worried for a second that he would notice my half-sawed ropes, but for once, he wasn't paying that much attention to me.

"The flock is loose." He spat, and relief flooded through me. "I have everyone we have looking for them, but I thought I'd warn you, in case they show up here." He glanced at me.

"I should also warn you," He went on. "That Fang is snooping around. And he's…strong."

It was only now that I realized Dylan was cradling his arm, which was at a weird angle.

"Oh dear." Dr. Hans said, sounding only half worried.

"You're free." Fang said. "Now go. I'll hold them back."

I wasted no time. I jumped up, wheeled round and ran for the door. Dr. Hans reached out to grab me as I passed, but Fang sent the chair flying into his stomach.

"Go after her!" Dr. Hans wheezed, doubled over.

In another second I was out the door, racing down a wide hallway. I quickly measured the width, seeing if it was wide enough. Realizing it was, I jumped into the air and extended my wings. I went into warp-drive then, knowing they wouldn't be able to catch me.

_Now all I have to do is find the flock and my mom-_

Something bid hit my back, forcing me to hit the ground and do, what I'm pretty sure was, the most painful face-plant in history.

I skidded across the floor and rolled to a stop. I looked behind me to see Dylan skidding to a stop on his feet, a lot more gracefully than me.

I remembered what Dylan had mentioned weeks ago about him being able to fly really fast, and cursed myself for not thinking of it.

Dylan was up in no time. He strode over to me and wrapped his good arm around me, hoisting me up and holding me close to him. I struggled, but his arm was wrapped completely around me, trapping my arms against my sides.

"Max, don't you see?" Dylan asked, a lot more gentler than I would have imagined. "I care about you. I was _made_ for you."

I made the mistake of making eye contact with him. I instantly stopped struggling, and stood there, frozen. _Again!_

"We can be happy together." He said softly. "You just have to give me a chance." He gave me a hesitant smile.

Looking into his eyes, all I could see was gentleness, sincerity, and love. I realized that he _could_ be perfect for me. If I just gave him…a chance.

I smiled tentatively up at him, and his own smile turned more affectionate. I relaxed my muscles and he loosened his hold on me, moving his hand to the base of my spine. I raised my hand to his face and stroked his cheek.

Then I drew my hand back…and I punched him.

There was a loud crack and a second later blood started gushing from Dylan's nose. I went low, shot my leg out, and knocked Dylan's feet from under him.

I straightened up and was about to continue down the hall, when I noticed a soft, flickering glow coming form the room I had just come from. The candles?

My eyes widened. _Fang!_

I leapt over Dylan, who was moaning on the floor, and raced back.

I burst through the door and immediately saw Dr. Hans finish lighting the candles. I looked around for Fang.

"He's not here." Dr. Hans said, his back turned away from me. "He knew what I was doing and his instincts told him to get away from the candles." Dr. Hans turned to me. "But he'll be back. Ghosts have to come when they're called."

"I'm not going to call him for you." I told him.

"Oh, you won't have to." Dr. Hans assured me. "Not when I have this." He bent down and picked up the picture frame, turning it toward me.

My mouth fell open. It was a picture of _Fang_. How had he gotten…?

Then I remembered Nudge's stash of pictures that Fang had told me about.

"A picture of the spirit in question is all you need to summon them. Once the exorcism has begun, Fang will be dragged here, no matter where he is, and trapped within the circle of candles. Fascinating, isn't it?" He asked, placing the frame back on the floor.

He straightened up and sighed, suddenly looking regretful.

"This all could have been avoided, Max. This exorcism wouldn't be necessary if you had just _let go_."

I started towards Dr. Hans. I had to get that picture. If he didn't have the picture, then he couldn't call Fang.

Something struck the side of my head, knocking me to the ground. I felt a boot on my neck, keeping me down.

"I don't think we can have you interfering, Max. And the way I see it," Dylan sneered down at me, his nose and mouth covered in blood. "If I can't have you, at least I can help get rid of Fang."

The door behind me opened again.

"I see you're playing with dangerous things again, Gunther." A familiar voice said to Dr. Hans.

"What-what are you doing here?" Dr. Hans spluttered.

"I'm here to stop you killing yourself, and everyone in this room." The _Sangoma_ said, coming into my line of vision.

"You have no business being here!" Hans said, outraged. "Leave immediately, before I call security and have you arrested."

"Your '_security'_ is out on a wild goose chase that the flock set up. Now, if you've run out of threats, can we move on?"

Dr. Hans could only continue to splutter. For once, I had to agree with him. What was the _Sangoma_ doing here? How had she gotten here?

"Do you have any idea how dangerous exorcisms are?" She asked Hans calmly.

Dylan had loosened his hold on me, and I scrambled up. Now, we stood side by side, watching the exchange between the two elders.

"Now, see here-"

"I'll see nothing." The _Sangoma_ interrupted him. "After you killed my nephew five years ago, the least you could do is hear me out."

My mouth dropped open. "_You_ killed Darren?"

"That has nothing to do with anything!" Dr. Hans argued.

"You tricked him into working for you-" The _Sangoma_ said.

"It was entirely his choice." Hans said indignantly.

"You needed his knowledge of magic. The knowledge that he learned from me."

I noticed now that the _Sangoma_ was only distracting him, drawing his thoughts away from the exorcism. If Dr. Hans thought he had to deal with her first, it would give me time to get the picture.

"He was a willing subject in a well planned experiment."

"And even after that went horribly wrong, still, you insist on messing with things you do not understand."

"Enough!" Dr. Hans yelled. He quickly bent down and lit one final candle I hadn't noticed before.

Fang instantly materialized within the circle, but before I could react at all, a huge gust of air came from the circle, knocking everyone backwards. The ground trembled beneath me.

I looked up to see a huge hole appear above Fang's head, filled with black, swirling smoke. Horror filled me, and I staggered to my feet as the ground trembled again, more violently this time.

I made my way over to Fang as the walls began to shake. The hole above Fang widened, and the black smoke began spiralling down from it, making a low sort of thundering noise as it did so.

I reached out toward Fang, but my hand hit an invisible wall that seemed to go around Fang and the candles.

I was panicking now, trying to think of some way to get Fang out of there, as long tendrils of smoke wrapped around him.

The whole room was constantly shaking now, pitching back and forth, as if the ground beneath it was really ocean waves. Bits of the ceiling were falling to the floor, filling the room with rubble and dust.

I began coughing, still trying to get to Fang.

He tried fighting the thick smoke that had wrapped around his arms and legs, but they only became tighter. He looked up at the snowing ceiling, and looked back at me.

"_Go." _ He mouthed, although I couldn't hear him over the thundering noise coming from the hole.

"_Go."_ He mouthed again, more urgently this time. I shook my head.

I heard someone calling my name, but whether it was Dr. Hans, the _Sangoma_, or someone else, I didn't care. Not until I got Fang out of there.

The ground shook more violently now, causing me to lose my balance and fall to the ground. I tried to get up, but was forced to roll to the side, away from Fang, to avoid a huge piece of plaster that fell from the ceiling.

I jumped up and started coughing again. I could see shapes through the dust-filled air, people running around the room. But whether they were friend or enemy I couldn't tell.

I looked around, and only barely spotted Fang. The thick smoke had encased him almost fully. The ground shook again, and again, I stumbled to the ground.

I looked up as thunder clapped overhead.

Just before the smoke completely engulfed Fang, he stopped struggling and met my eyes.

Then, a huge rafter fell from the ceiling, cutting off my view of Fang.

And then there was silence.

* * *

**3****rd**** person POV:**

Max scrambled to her feet and raced toward the rafter.

The thunder had stopped, along with the room's shaking, and the black hole had disappeared. But Max knew that meant nothing. If she could just climb over the rafter, she could reach Fang and pull him away from the candles. Everything would be fine.

"FANG!" Max yelled. "FANG!"

Max heard voices and people running towards her, but it was just meaningless noise.

She reached the rafter, and was about to jump over, when someone grabbed her around the chest, holding her back.

"There's nothing you can do, Max." Jeb said. "We have to get out of here-"

"Get him, pull him away from there! He's only on the other side!"

Max vaguely noticed the flock and her mom in the room, watching her as the dust began to settle. She kept struggling. Why were they just standing there?

"It too late, Max-"

"We can still get him-" Max struggled hard and viciously, but Jeb would not let go.

"There's nothing you can do, Max…nothing…he's gone."

**That last part is in 3rd person cause I thought it was more dramatic. Hopefully it didn't ruin it.**

**REVIEW! Tell me your thoughts. Should that be the end of Fang? Should Max move on?**


	26. Chapter 26

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything!**

**Chapter Twenty Six**

"He's not gone!" I yelled.

I didn't believe it, I wouldn't believe it. I fought Jeb with every bit of strength I had. He didn't understand. None of them did. Fang was just on the other side of the rafter, just out of sight-

"FANG!" I screamed. "FANG!"

"He's not there, Max," Jeb said, his voice breaking as he struggled to keep hold of me. "He's not there because he's g-"

"HE-IS-NOT-GONE!" I screeched. "FANG!"

I could hear the flock behind me. Above us , a slow shifting noise broke the dead silence of the room, as if the ceiling was protesting against the loud yelling. But it didn't matter. Nothing mattered except that Jeb should stop pretending that Fang, who was just standing feet from them in the circle of candles, was not there.

"Max…" my mom said gently, but trailed off, as if unable to think of anything to say.

The ceiling creaked again, louder. More dust and rubble broke off and snowed to the ground.

"We have to get out of here." Iggy said quietly, sounding as though every word was causing him pain. "The ceiling isn't going to stay up there for long."

Jeb dragged me away from the rafter. I wasn't struggling now, although I didn't remember telling myself to stop. I just stared at the rafter, without really seeing it.

"We have to leave before the building collapses on us." Jeb said, dragging me towards the door more forcefully.

We past the flock, and I saw Angel and Nudge crying. Gazzy's bottom lip was trembling, and Iggys eyes were bloodshot.

I was getting angry at Fang now, for keeping me waiting. He knew I was worried, and I was positive that he could hear me.

But some part of me realized, even as I began struggling feebly against Jeb once more, that Fang had risked everything, always, to save me, to help me, even when he had been non-solid. If Fang wasn't appearing beside me, or even responding, when I was yelling for him as though my life depended on it, the only possible explanation was that he couldn't respond…that he really was-

"No." I whispered. "NO!" I repeated, screeching this time. I began struggling wildly now, twisting and clawing at Jeb.

The ceiling gave a warning creak, as if it were preparing itself to drop. I ripped myself from Jeb's hold and ran for the rafter, but Iggy caught me and blocked my way.

"I can't leave him!" I screamed, my voice breaking. I tried to get past him, but he wrapped his arms around me, locking me in his embrace.

"I know." Iggy said, his voice filled with his own grief. "I know."

Hearing that grief…it just made something in me snap.

"I can't." I whispered.

I felt a hand on my arm, and a small prick. I looked down to see a needle injecting clear liquid into my arm.

"I'm sorry." Iggy whispered, holding me in place as Jeb finished sedating me. I began to feel dizzy.

"I'm so sorry." I heard repeated, just as everything went black.

* * *

I could hear birds singing, causing my gut to wrench.

I was sitting cross-legged in the middle of my bed, back at the safe house we had abandoned. I was looking out the window at the cool, sunny day. The sky was blue, with a caressing wind blowing about.

The room was quiet, but I could hear my mom in the kitchen. Occasionally, a flock member would walk down the hall, and pause to knock lightly on my door. But when I wouldn't answer, they would continue on.

My mom had told them to give me space, let me be alone. But honestly, being alone was the last thing I wanted.

The silence and the stillness was unbearable. If my surroundings could have reflected me feelings, the sky would be raining fireballs, the world would be screaming in excruciating pain, exploding into tiny fragments…

I walked over to the window, looking out on the calm, beautiful day, trying not to think.

But I had to think…there was no escape…It was unbearable, I couldn't stand it. There was a terrible space inside me, a black void where Fang had been, where Fang had vanished. It was as if the dark hole that had ripped Fang away had burned a twin of itself in me.

It had only been last night that it had happened. Jeb had come in this morning to apologize for sedating me, explaining that it had been the only way he had seen to get us all of there safely. He had said he understood if I hated him for it, but I had just shook my head.

I didn't hate him for it. Looking back, it seemed the logical thing to do. I had been hysterical, not thinking, and the roof had been about to collapse. If he hadn't sedated me, I would have gotten us all killed.

He had also told me that law enforcement had searched the remains of the building early that morning, and found Dr. Hans and Dylan. They were now in custody. I had tried to say "good", but no sound had come out, so I merely nodded at the floor. He had left then, returning me to my thoughts.

My mom came in now, knocking softly and peeking around the door.

"Max? Honey, how are you?" she asked quietly.

I continued to stare out the window.

"The CSM has organized a flight home for us." She told me after a pause. She was using a quiet, gentle voice, like she was afraid I would start screaming again. There was another pause, and then she spoke again.

"I've prepared a small funeral for Fang back in America."

I turned away from the window then, twisting to look at her.

"I thought…well, I just thought that the flock might like to pay their respects to him. It might give you a place where you feel...connected to Fang."

I just stared at her for a moment. Then I swallowed, and nodded, turning back to the window.

"There's someone here who wants to talk to you, Max." I heard my mom say.

I shook my head, staring at the windowsill. I didn't think I was able to talk.

I heard the door close, and turned to see the _Sangoma_ watching me.

"Sit with me, Max." she said.

I moved over to the bed, and we both sat down. There was a long silence then, where I just stared vacantly at the floor.

"I know how you're feeling, Max." The _Sangoma_ said.

"No, you don't." I croaked, my voice hoarse and weak from lack of use. My throat felt sore and raw from last night's screaming.

"It's perfectly normal to feel like this." She said calmly. I continued to stare at the floor, no longer seeing it.

"You don't know…" I trailed off, my voice shaking.

"What don't I know?" the _Sangoma_ asked calmly.

I looked up at her, suddenly furious, white-hot anger licking my insides.

"I don't want to talk about my feelings, alright?"

"You'll have to talk about them eventually." She said. "If you keep this much feeling inside for too long, it will tear you inside-out."

"I don't care!" I said, my voice suddenly loud and strong. I felt the white-hot anger leap inside me.

"Yes, you do." The _Sangoma_ said quietly. "You care so much, you feel as if you will bleed to death from the pain of it."

I couldn't take anymore! It was too much. The _Sangoma_ know _nothing_ about my feelings!

"You don't know how I feel!" I shouted at her.

"Yes I do, Max. I know more about how you feel than you do."

Her voice had changed, I realized. It sounded weird, Not like an adult's, but not childish either. It didn't sound human or non-human, it sounded like…

"Yes, Max. I'm the Voice." The _Sangoma_ told me.

I stared at her. I couldn't believe it. After all this time, after all the guessing and the wondering. After everything that had happened, I had finally found out who the Voice was. That it was the _Sangoma_.

And after all that I'd been through, I found that…I really didn't care.

I just nodded and returned my gaze to the window.

**I just realized that I have over 100 reviews! Thanks guys! :D**

**Now for this chapter I used a lot of stuff from a pretty popular book. I want you to guess what it is in your review, and if you get it right I'll...um...I'll devote the next chapter to you!**

**REVIEW!**


	27. Chapter 27

**Disclaimer: Don't own anything!**

**This chapter is dedicated to 'Someone you don't know' who guessed Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. But since 'Scorpio-kage' and 'midnightmockingjay' also guessed Harry Potter, it's also dedicated to you guys. Close enough. :D**

**Chapter Twenty Seven**

I sighed and looked at myself in the mirror, again.

My hair had been washed and brushed, and I had on a simple black top and jeans. My mom had asked if I wanted to wear a dress, or something more formal, but I had declined.

I could just imagine Fang's face if he saw me in a dress. The eyebrow would go up and his eyes would narrow, in a mixture of _'Are you feeling alright?'_ and _'Are you really Max?'_

The wrenching feeling in my stomach started again, so I quickly thought of something else.

We had arrived back in America a couple days ago. My mom had shown us the graveyard she had picked for Fang. It was the closest there was to her and Ella's house.

Ella had been happy to see us, but when she realized there was one of us who hadn't made it home, she had started to panic and ask me questions.

When my mom had finally explained to her gently what had happened, she started crying. The Nudge and Angel had started crying.

Suddenly, everyone was crying, and I had realized that my flock needed me. They needed me to be there. To be strong, to comfort them and lead them, and do all the things I usually did that I had failed to do recently.

They were grieving just as much as I was.

So, here I was, staring at myself in the mirror, all ready to go to my best friend's funeral, and give support to the rest of my family.

Until I knew the flock were okay, I would have to be strong. Until then, dealing with my own problems would have to wait.

"Max? Are you ready?" my mom called from the front hall.

I looked at myself in the mirror, standing straight, and tall, and very alone. I closed my eyes and took a deep breathe.

"Hey." A quiet voice said from behind me. I jumped and spun around, leaning back on the table that held up the mirror.

And there he was.

Just standing there, looking at me, as if nothing had ever happened. As if he hadn't died and been sucked up into a dark hole. As if this was just another day and I wasn't about to go to his funeral.

I gaped at him, my mouth hanging open. A thought struck me, just for a second.

Did any of that really happen? Did we ever go to Africa and get attacked? Did Fang really die and be exorcised? Was this just an ordinary outing for the flock? I mentally shook myself. That was what the _Sangoma _–err, or the Voice?- had warned about. Getting confused with realities until I didn't know what was what.

I threw myself at Fang and wrapped my arms around his neck, grabbing at his shirt and hair, as if I would never let go, and I wasn't planning to any time soon.

He didn't seem to mind that much, wrapping his arms around me and holding me just as tight, whispering in my ear that it was alright, that he was here.

It was only now that I realized my hands were shaking, even as they clutched Fang's black t-shirt.

I pulled away slightly and studied his face. He looked the same as he always had. I smiled in relief as the last feelings of grief left my system. Fang's mouth twitched in return, making my smile widen.

Than my smile faltered as the situation dawned on me fully.

"How are you here?" I asked bluntly.

Fang raised his eyebrow.

"I mean," I went on. "The-the candles, and the black hole and smoke, and the building falling down, and then-then you not being there and-" I realized something and my eyes widened.

"Where have you _been_?" I asked angrily. "It's been _days! _And you've just, what, been on holidays?"

I took my arms from around his neck and pushed him away. His arms came from around my waste and he took a step back.

"I thought you were gone for good. Do you have any idea what I've been going through?" I asked, my voice rising.

Fang gave me a warning look.

"Your mom is going to hear you and wonder what's going on."

I took a deep breathe. "So?" I asked, lowering my voice. "What happened?"

Fang shrugged. "Darren showed up at the last minute." He explained. "I was about to be sucked up into that hole, but he showed up and knocked the picture out of the circle."

I raised my eyebrows, remembering the invisible wall. Fang saw my look and explained.

"Turns out, a ghost who isn't trapped in the circle can go in and out as he pleases. Go figure." Fang shrugged again. "But he got the frame out anyway. Almost got sucked up himself before he got to it. Once the picture was gone, the hole disappeared."

"Didn't you hear me calling?" I asked quietly. _Or screaming_, I added in my mind.

A look of pain crossed Fang's face. "I did." He said in a voice that told me he knew I hadn't been just 'calling'.

"I did hear you." He repeated. "But once the hole disappeared, I sort of…collapsed. It was like I was conscious while being unconscious. I couldn't do anything. When I tried to reply, this feeling of exhaustion came over me. Darren took me to the _Sangoma's_ house, where I got my energy back. She said any ghost that survives an exorcism in usually pretty weak afterward-"

"Wait a minute." I interrupted. "The _Sangoma knew_ you weren't exorcised?"

Fang nodded.

I'm gonna _kill_ her!" I exclaimed.

Fang gave me a questioning look.

"I was talking to her the day after that whole thing. She could have at least _told_ me!"

**It was another test. A test that you passed.** I heard the Voice say.

_Brilliant!_ I thought sarcastically. _What test would that be?_

**The test to see if you would step up and lead your flock, even if you felt you were emotionally unable.**

"Oh, well thank you for that!" I said aloud.

"Voice again?" Fang asked.

"Yeah," I replied. "Just congratulating me on passing another test." I said, my voice dripping sarcasm, hoping that the Voice –err, the _Sangoma_- was listening.

"Max, we're ready when you are." My mom called again from the front hall.

Fang glanced at the door, and back at me.

"Where are we going?" he asked.

"Um…" I said, unsure how to put it. "Your funeral?"

* * *

Walking into the front hall was…awkward. Everyone there was expecting to see me at my worst, when I felt the best I had in days. Fang walked in beside me, but no one noticed. All except for –you guessed it- Angel.

She looked up, and her mouth dropped open. Then a slow, uncertain smile came on her face.

Seeing as all eyes were on me, I fought to keep my own happy grin off my face. I thought it would be a bit inappropriate, seeing as we were going to a funeral.

"Are you ready?" my mom asked gently, putting a comforting hand on my arm.

"Yup." I said. "I mean, um, yeah. Yeah, I'm ready." I corrected when my mom gave me a strange look. I tried to put on a sombre, sad look on my face.

"Okay, let's go." My mom said, still shooting me uncertain glances.

* * *

I stifled another giggle as we all stood around the grave.

Ever since we had entered the graveyard, I had been smothering laughter.

The absurdity of the situation hit me again, and I choked back another laugh, covering it up with a cough.

Here I was, in a quiet corner of a graveyard, surrounded by grieving family, standing in front of my boyfriends grave, as said boyfriend stood next to me, telling me lame knock-knock jokes in an attempt to make me laugh and embarrass myself.

Ask yourself, how could you not laugh?

Angel, of course, could hear Fang too, and was currently muffling her own giggles.

"I can't believe I wasn't even invited to my own funeral." Fang said indignantly. "Out of all the people to be here, I think I'm the most important, don't ya think?"

I coughed again to suppress another snicker. Why is it, that whenever you're not supposed to laugh, everything becomes ten times funnier than what it would be otherwise?

I took a deep breathe to calm myself, and then answered Fang.

"It's not a real funeral." I whispered under my breath, so only he would hear me. "There's no casket, 'cause they never found your body, and there's no priest. So, it's just a rock with your name on it."

Fang turned to me.

"Just a rock with my name on it?" he repeated. "You're supposed to be here to fondly remember me, not to insult me."

I snorted, and quickly ducked my head, hiding my reddening face with my hair as I shook with more laughter.

My mom came over and put a supporting hand on my shoulder, mistaking my shaking for sobs instead of laughter.

"We'll leave you guys alone for a minute." She said, and led Ella and Jeb away, leaving the flock to grieve.

Fang sighed. "Seeing so many people around my grave, missing me," he glanced at me. "It really lifts my spirit."

I finally cracked. Me and Angel both burst out laughing at the same time. The flock turned to us in surprise.

"Are you guys okay?" Nudge asked, watching us bend over and clutch out sides.

"It's not…our fault." I choked out between laughs, getting a stitch in my side.

"Fang…won't stop…" Angel gasped.

The flocks eyes widened.

"Fang's…here?" Gazzy asked, confused. Then he grinned. "What's he saying?"

We told them the stupid jokes Fang had been telling since we arrived, and soon, the whole flock was laughing.

Good thing the others had left, or they would have thought we had lost it.

We spent the next couple minutes catching everyone up on where Fang had been, and when he'd shown up again. This time no one doubted me. Nudge even said she could kind of see Fang's outline. Kind of.

We were all sitting around Fang's 'grave' now, chatting like always. Fang looked at me and motioned over to some trees.

I got up and said. "Guys, I'll be right back."

"K, Max." Nudge said, and went on talking, as was the norm.

We walked into the small clump of trees, and it felt like we were in a huge forest, separated from the rest of the world.

It reminded me of one of the nightmares I had had. But when I glanced over at Fang, he wasn't fading. He looked strong and solid. He looked like Fang.

"I am sorry I took so long getting back." Fang broke the silence.

"Well, I'm sorry I freaked out when you got here." I replied.

It wasn't often that we apologized out-loud to each other like this. But there's a first time for everything, I guess.

Fang grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him, wrapping his arms around me.

I looked up at him, into the familiar face that I knew better than the back of my hand, and smiled. He gave one of his famous Fang-grins back.

"I love you." He said simply.

Now, if any of you just had a thought of me saying something like, 'I love you too, forever.' Back, then you obviously haven't been paying attention.

I just smiled and said, "Ditto."

Fang leaned down and kissed me, and as always, my mind went blissfully blank.

But unlike always, a small breeze ruffled my hair, and warmth spread from my skin that was touching Fang's.

We pulled apart as the breeze died down.

"That was weird." Fang stated, glancing warily around.

I nodded. Nothing felt different but…something felt different. I shook my head, trying to get my thoughts to make sense.

"Come on, let's head back." I said.

We left the clump of tress and headed for Fang's grave, where I could see the flock standing around. I saw my mom, Jeb and Ella there, too.

Angel looked over at us and smiled. Then Nudge looked over…and her jaw dropped.

_She must be able to see Fang now._ I thought.

Then everyone else looked over…and a whole load more jaws dropped.

We stopped in front of them, and I realized everyone was staring…at Fang! They could all see him.

Fang must have realized this too, because he glanced at his gravestone and said nonchalantly, "Nice. I like it. Thanks, Dr. M."

My mom didn't reply, she just stared at him with shock and…no, just shock.

"This is impossible." Jeb muttered. He moved over to Fang and…grabbed his wrist.

How could Fang be solid to Jeb? Unless…did that mean...?

Jeb looked up at Fang in surprise.

"You have a pulse." He said, astonished.

I turned to Fang. "Did you have a pulse before?"

Fang shook his head.

Just then, Gazzy threw himself at Fang. And then everyone was hugging Fang, and talking to Fang, and asking him questions.

"Was it cool, being a ghost?" Nudge asked. "Was it scary? Did you scare anyone? That trick you pulled on Dylan was so cool!"

On and on she went. And, for once, no one stopped her.

I didn't know what had happened, or what changed. But it seemed Fang had become so real, that he had become…completely real. Jeb did an exam on him, and said he was completely normal. He bled when you pricked him with a needle, and nothing, Jeb said, seemed to go through him.

"Seems?" Gazzy asked, with a wicked grin on his face.

Fang then spent the next two hours dodging random objects that Iggy and Gazzy threw at him, seeing if "he really was solid".

But once the third mug hit the wall and smashed, my mom put her foot down, and the game ended.

Looks like everything was back to normal.

**Okay, this is technically the last chapter, but there will be one more! Was anyone OOC in this chapter?**

**Seeing as this is my first story, I would _really really_ like if you guys could do me a favor:**

**In your review, say what you like best about me as an author, (example, my attention to spelling) and what you dislike the most. (example, I don't update often enough, the lines don't flow together etc.)**

**Finally, in the next chapter, I'm going to give a list of songs I think would go good for this story. If you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them! :D**

**REVIEW!**


	28. Epilogue

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything!**

**Epilogue**

I walked into the living room and looked around at my flock.

Nudge was watching TV with Ella, some fashion show thing. Angel was sitting with Total and Akila, telling them all about Africa and the things we'd seen. Gazzy and Iggy…were currently in a corner, bent over something and talking in low voices. I suppressed a groan.

And then I spotted Fang. He was sitting perfectly still, practically blending into the coach, concentrating on perfecting his new power.

We had discovered it the day after Fang's 'funeral' , the same day Fang's gravestone had been removed from the graveyard.

We had been eating a pretty normal dinner, when my mom had asked Fang to pass the salt. It was a pretty normal request, for a normal dinner.

But, of course, this was _our_ lives we're talking about, and we couldn't _possibly_ have _one_ normal day.

Fang went to grab the salt, and it just slid across the table, into his waiting hand.

Yup. Fang could move objects with his mind.

We started to experiment, and everyone had been way impressed when Fang had tried turning on the TV just by concentrating on it, and succeeded. I was the only one who realized that this power would probably be more annoying than his other one.

Fang had said that, when Darren had been teaching him how to move things as a ghost, he had said _"It's all in your mind."_ The ability seemed to have stuck with him when he got his body back.

I moved across the room, heading for Fang.

"Don't blow the house up." I said as I passed Iggy and Gazzy.

They both froze and looked up at me.

"We won't." Iggy said then, and they went back to work.

I sat down next to Fang. He looked up and gave me a small smile, then went back to moving a mug from one side of the coffee table to the other, without touching it.

I looked around the room once more, at everyone doing their usual thing.

"It's almost like nothing ever happened." I said.

"Didn't I promise that nothing was going to happen?" Fang said, stopping with the mug and looking sideways at me.

"Something _did_ happen." I told him. "It just…didn't really change anything."

"Well, it changed _some_ things." I corrected, watching as the mug slid across the table once more, towards me.

Fang rolled his eyes at me and pulled me closer to him. I leaned my head against him and relaxed.

"Oh," I said, lifting my head up. "Don't make any more promises." I said to Fang.

He lifted an eyebrow.

"It's just," I explained. "They seem to come back and bite us."

Fang looked away, thinking about it. Finally, he sighed.

"Fine." He said. "I was going to promise you that last bit of cake your mom made,"

I sat bolt upright and stared at him.

He turned to me and spoke very quickly:

"But since I'm not making any more promises-"

He jumped up then and bolted for the kitchen, where I knew the piece of cake sat vulnerable and unprotected.

"Fang!" I yelled, and jumped up after him.

**The End**

* * *

**Last chapter! :'( I feel so sad.**

**Anyway, thank you so much to everyone who reviewed!**

**Here's a list of songs I think fit this story, one way or another. If you have any others I would really like to know. :D**

**Colors - Amos Lee**

**Vanilla Twilight - Owl City**

**Tears in Heaven - Eric Clapton**

**It's not Easy to be Me - David Gray**

**With or Without you - U2**

**Bleeding Love - Leona Lewis**

**Unwell - Matchbox Twenty**

**I'll go Crazy if I don't Go Crazy Tonight - U2**

**Never Say Never - The Fray**

**Halo - Beyonce**

**Don't Wake Me - Skillet**

**One Real Thing - Skillet**

**Arms of an Angel - Sarah McLachlan**

**Unchained Melody - Righteous Brothers**

**Signal Fire - Snow Patrol**

**Where Ever You Will Go - The Calling**

**Iris - The Goo Goo Dolls**

**Walk Away - Funeral for a Friend**

**Don't Forget Me - Way Out West**

**Far away - NickelBack**

**Here I Am - Bryan Adams.**

**And yes, I do realize that I have a very colorful taste in music. :P**


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